STEPHEN    R.  RIGGS,  D.D.,  LL.D. 


MARY  AND  I 


FORTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX 


BY 


STEPHEN   R.   RIGGS,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

MISSIONARY  TO  THE  DAKOTAS,  AND  AUTHOR  OF  "  DAKOTA  GRAMMAR 

AND  DICTIONARY,"    "GOSPEL  AMONG   THE 

DAKOTAS,"    ETC. 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION 
BY 

REV.    S.   C.   BARTLETT,   D.D. 

PRESIDENT  OF  DARTMOUTH  COLLEGE 


BOSTON 

Congregational  gutrtagsScfjooI  ana  $ubltsfjtng  ^octets 

CONGREGATIONAL    HOUSE 


COPYRIGHT,  1880,  BY  STEPHEN  R.  RIGGS. 


COPYRIGHT,  1887,  BY 
CONGREGATIONAL  S.  S.  AND  PUBLISHING  SOCIETY. 


ELECTROTYPED  BY 
C.  J.  PETERS  AND  SON,  BOSTON. 


£0  ifHg  (Efjitornt, 

ALFRED,   ISABELLA,   MARTHA,   ANNA,   THOMAS, 
HENRY,    ROBERT,   CORNELIA, 
AND   EDNA; 

TOGETHER  WITH  ALL  THE  GRANDCHILDREN  GROWING 

UP  INTO  THE  MISSIONARY  INHERITANCE 

OF  THEIR  FATHERS  AND 

MOTHERS, 

THIS  BOOK  IS  INSCRIBED  BY 
THE  AUTHOR. 


268014 


PREFACE. 


THIS  book  I  have  INSCRIBED  to  my  own  family.  It  will 
be  of  interest  to  them,  as,  in  part,  a  history  of  their  father 
and  mother,  in  the  toils  and  sacrifices  and  rewards  of 
commencing  and  carrying  forward  the  work  of  evangeliz 
ing  the  Dakota  people. 

Many  others,  who  are  interested  in  the  uplifting  of  the 
Red  Men,  may  be  glad  to  obtain  glimpses,  in  these  pages, 
of  the  inside  of  Missionary  Life  in  what  was,  not  long 
since,  the  Far  West ;  and  to  trace  the  threads  of  the  in 
weaving  of  a  Christ-life  into  the  lives  of  many  of  the 
Sioux  nation. 

"Why  don't  you  tell  more  about  yourselves?"  is  a 
question  which,  in  various  forms,  has  been  often  asked 
me,  during  these  last  four  decades.  Partly  as  the  answer 
to  questions  of  that  kind,  this  book  assumes  somewhat 
the  form  of  a  personal  narrative. 

While  I  do  not  claim,  even  at  this  evening  time  of  my 
life,  to  be  freed  from  the  desire  that  good  Christian  read 
ers  will  think  favorably  of  this  effort  of  mine,  I  can  not 
expect  that  the  appreciation  with  which  my  Dakota  Gram 
mar  and  Dictionary  was  received,  by  the  literary  world, 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  will  be  surpassed 
by  this  humbler  effort. 

Moreover,  the  chief  work  of  my  life  has  been  the  part 
I  have  been  permitted,  by  the  good  Lord,  to  have  in  giv- 

5 


6  PREFACE. 

ing  the  entire  Bible  to  the  Sioux  Nation.  This  book  is 
only  "the  band  of  the  sheaf."  If,  by  weaving  the  princi 
pal  facts  of  our  Missionary  work,  its  trials  and  joys,  its 
discouragements  and  grand  successes,  into  this  personal 
narrative  of  "  MARY  AND  I,"  a  better  judgment  of  Indian 
capabilities  is  secured,  and  a  more  earnest  and  intelligent 
determination  to  work  for  their  Christianization  and  final 
Citizenship,  I  shall  be  quite  satisfied. 

Since  the  historical  close  of  "  Forty  years  with  the 
Sioux,"  some  important  events  have  transpired,  in  connec 
tion  with  our  missionary  work,  which  are  grouped  together 
in  an  Appendix,  in  the  form  of  Monographs. 

S.  R.  R. 

BELOIT,  Wis.,  January,  1880. 

NOTE  :  —  This  book,  first  published  by  the  author,  though  with 
the  imprint  of  W.  G.  Holmes,  Chicago,  has  met  with  such  favor  as 
to  indicate  that  it  should  be  brought  out  under  auspices  that  would 
give  it  to  a  larger  circle  of  those  interested  in  Indian  missions. 
And  to  carry  on  the  life  of  its  author  to  its  close,  and  give  a  more 
complete  view  of  the  progress  of  the  work,  another  chapter  has 
been  added,  making  the  "Forty  Years"  Fifty  Years  with  the 
Sioux. 

A.  L.  R. 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  churches  owe  a  great  debt  of  gratitude  to  their 
missionaries,  first,  for  the  noble  work  they  do,  and,  sec 
ond,  for  the  inspiring  narratives  they  write.  There  is 
no  class  of  writings  more  quickening  to  piety  at  home 
than  the  sober  narratives  of  these  labors  abroad.  The 
faith  and  zeal,  the  wisdom  and  patience,  the  enterprise 
and  courage,  the  self-sacrifice  and  Christian  peace  which 
they  record,  as  well  as  the  wonderful  triumphs  of  grace 
and  the  simplicity  of  native  piety  which  they  make  known, 
bring  us  nearer,  perhaps,  to  the  spirit  and  the  scenes  of 
Apostolic  times  than  any  other  class  of  literature.  How 
the  churches  could,  or  can  ever,  dispense  with  the  reac 
tionary  influence  from  the  Foreign  Mission  field,  it  is  dif 
ficult  to  understand.  Doubtless,  however,  when  the  har 
vest  is  all  gathered,  the  Lord  of  the  Harvest  will,  in  his 
wisdom,  know  how  to  supply  the  lack. 

Some  narratives  are  valuable  chiefly  for  their  interest 
of  style  and  manner,  while  the  facts  themselves  are  of 
minor  account.  Other  narratives  secure  attention  by  the 
weight  of  their  facts  alone.  The  author  of  "  Mary  and  I ; 
Forty  Years  with  the  Sioux  "  has  our  thanks  for  giving  us 
a  story  attractive  alike  from  the  present  significance  of  its 
theme  and  from  the  frank  and  fresh  simplicity  of  its 
method. 

It  is  a  timely  contribution.  Thank  God,  the  attention 
of  the  whole  nation  is  at  length  beginning  to  be  turned  in 

7 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

good  earnest  to  the  chronic  wrongs  inflicted  on  the  Indian 
race,  and  is,  though  slowly  and  with  difficulty,  comprehend 
ing  the  fact,  long  known  to  the  friends  of  missions,  that 
these  tribes,  when  properly  approached,  are  singularly 
accessible  and  responsive  to  all  the  influences  of  Chris 
tianity  and  its  resultant  civilization.  Slowest  of  all  to 
apprehend  this  truth,  though  with  honorable  exceptions, 
are  our  military  men.  The  officer  who  uttered  that  fright 
ful  maxim,  "  No  good  Indian  but  a  dead  Indian,"  —  if  in 
deed  it  ever  fell  from  his  lips,  —  needs  all  the  support  of  a 
brilliant  and  gallant  career  in  defence  of  his  country  to 
save  him  from  a  judgment  as  merciless  as  his  maxim. 
Such  principles,  let  us  believe,  have  had  their  day.  They 
and  their  defenders  are  assuredly  to  be  swept  away  by  the 
rising  tide  of  a  better  sentiment  slowly  and  steadily  per 
vading  the  country.  The  wrongs  of  the  African  have 
been,  in  part,  redressed,  and  now  comes  the  turn  of  the 
Indian.  He  must  be  permitted  to  have  a  home  in  fee- 
simple,  a  recognized  citizenship,  and  complete  protection 
under  a  settled  system  of  law.  The  gospel  will  then  do 
for  him  its  thorough  work,  and  show  once  more  that  God 
has  made  all  nations  of  one  blood.  He  is  yet  to  have 
them.  It  is  but  a  question  of  time.  And  the  Indian 
tribes  are  doubtless  not  to  fade  away,  but  to  be  rescued 
from  extinction  by  the  gospel  of  Christ  working  in  them 
and  for  them. 

The  reader  who  takes  up  this  volume  will  not  fail  to 
read  it  through.  He  will  easily  believe  that  Anna  Baird 
Riggs  was  "  a  model  Christian  woman,"  —  the  mother  who 
could  bring  up  her  boy  in  a  log  cabin  where  once  the  bear 
looked  in  at  the  door,  or  in  the  log  school-house  with  its 
newspaper  windows,  "  slab  benches,"  and  drunken  teacher, 
and  could  train  him  for  his  work  of  faith  and  persever- 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

ance  in  that  dreary  and  forbidding  missionary  region,  and 
in  what  men  thought  that  forlorn  hope.  And  he  will 
learn  —  unless  he  knew  it  already  —  that  a  lad  who  in 
early  life  hammered  on  the  anvil  can  strike  a  strong  and 
steady  stroke  for  God  and  man. 

The  reader  will  also  recognize  in  the  "  Mary "  of  this 
story,  now  gone  to  her  rest,  a  worthy  pupil  of  Mary 
Lyon  and  Miss  Z.  P.  Grant.  With  her  excellent  educa 
tion,  culture,  and  character,  how  cheerfully  she  left  her 
home  in  Massachusetts  to  enter  almost  alone  on  a  field  of 
labor  which  she  knew  perfectly  to  be  most  fraught  with 
self-sacrifice,  least  attractive,  not  to  say  most  repulsive, 
of  them  all.  How  hopefully  she  journeyed  on  thirteen 
days,  from  the  shores  of  Lake  Harriet,  to  plunge  still 
farther  into  the  wilderness  of  Lac-qui-parle.  How  happily 
she  found  a  "  home  "  for  five  years  in  the  upper  story  of 
Dr.  Williamson's  log  house,  in  a  room  eighteen  feet  by 
ten,  occupied  in  due  time  by  three  children  also.  How 
quietly  she  glided  into  all  the  details  and  solved  all  the 
difficulties  of  that  primitive  life,  bore  with  the  often  re 
volting  habits  of  the  aborigines,  taught  their  boys  Eng 
lish,  and  persevered  and  persisted  till  she  had  taught 
their  women  "the  gospel  of  soap."  How  bravely  she 
bore  up  in  that  terrible  midnight  flight  from  Hazel- 
wood,  and  the  long  exhausting  journey  to  St.  Paul, 
through  the  pelting  rains  and  wet  swamp-grass,  arid  with 
murderous  savages  upon  the  trail.  But  it  was  the  chief 
test  and  glory  of  her  character  to  have  brought  up  a 
family  of  children,  among  all  the  surroundings  of  Indian 
life,  as  though  amid  the  homes  of  civilization  and  refine 
ment.  All  honor  to  such  a  woman,  wife,  and  mother. 
Her  children  rise  up  and  call  her  blessed.  Forty-one 
years  after  her  departure  from  the  station  at  Lake  Har- 


10 


INTRODUCTION. 


riet,  the  present  writer  stood  upon  the  pleasant  shore 
where  the  tamarack  mission  houses  had  long  disappeared, 
and  felt  that  this  was  consecrated  ground. 

The  other  partner  in  this  firm  of  "  Mary  and  I  "  needs 
no  words  of  mine.  He  speaks  here  for  himself,  and  his 
labors  speak  for  him.  His  Dakota  Dictionary  and  Bible 
are  lasting  monuments  of  his  persevering  toil,  while 
eleven  churches  with  a  dozen  native  preachers  and  eight 
hundred  members,  and  a  flourishing  Dakota  Home  Mis 
sionary  Society,  bear  witness  to  the  Christian  work  of 
himself  and  his  few  co-laborers.  "  Forty  Years  Among 
the  Sioux,"  he  writes.  "  Forty  years  in  the  Turkish 
Empire,"  was  the  story  of  Dr.  Goodell.  Fifty  Years  in 
Ceylon,  was  the  life-work  of  Levi  Spalding.  What  rec 
ords  are  these  of  singleness  of  aim,  of  energy,  of  Chris 
tian  work,  and  of  harvests  gathered  and  gathering  for  the 
Master.  Would  that  such  a  holy  ambition  might  be 
kindled  in  the  hearts  of  many  other  young  men  as  they 
read  these  pages.  How  invigorating  the  firm  assurance : 
"  During  the  years  of  my  preparation  there  never  came 
to  me  a  doubt  of  the  rightness  of  my  decision.  At  the 
end  of  forty  years'  work  I  am  abundantly  satisfied  with 
the  way  in  which  the  Lord  has  led  me."  How  many  of 
those  who  embark  in  other  lines  of  life  and  action  can 
say  the  same  ? 

And  how  signally  was  the  spirit  of  the  parents  trans 
mitted  to  the  children.  Almost  a  whole  family  in  the 
mission  work :  six  sons  and  daughters  among  the 
Dakotas,  the  seventh  in  China.  I  know  not  another 
instance  so  marked  as  this.  And  what  a  power  for  good 
to  the  Dakota  race,  past,  present,  and  future,  is  gathered 
up  in  one  undaunted,  single-hearted  family  of  Christian 
toilers.  A  part  of  this  family  it  has  been  the  writer's 


INTRODUCTION.  11 

privilege  to  know,  and  of  two  of  the  sons  he  had  the 
pleasure  to  be  the  teacher  in  the  original  tongues  of  the 
Word  of  God.  And  he  deems  it  an  additional  pleasure 
and  privilege  thus  to  connect  his  name  with  theirs  and 
their  mission.  For  not  alone  the  dusky  Dakotas,  but  all 
the  friends  of  the  Indian  tribes  and  lovers  of  the  Mission 
ary  cause,  are  called  on  to  honor  the  names  of  Pond, 
Williamson,  and  RIGGS. 

S.  C.  BARTLETT. 
DARTMOUTH  COLLEGE. 


S 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

1837.  —  Our  Parentage. — My  Mother's  Bear  Story. — Mary's 
Education.  —  Her  First  School  Teaching.  —  School-houses 
and  Teachers  in  Ohio.  —  Learning  the  Catechism.  —  Am 
bitions. —  The  Lord's  Leading. —  Mary's  Teaching  in  Beth 
lehem.  —  Life  Threads  Coming  Together.  —  Licensure.  — 
Our  Decision  as  to  Life  Work.  —  Going  to  IS'ew  England. 

—  The    Hawley   Family.  —  Marriage.  —  Going  West.  — 
From  Mary's  Letters. — Mrs.  Isabella  Burgess. —  "  Steamer 
Isabella."  —  At  St.   Louis.  —  The  Mississippi.  —  To  the 
City  of  Lead.  —  Rev.  Aratus  Kent.  —  The  Lord  Provides. 

—  Mary's  Descriptions.  — Upper  Mississippi.  —  Reaching 
FortSnelling 23 

CHAPTER  II. 

1837.  —  First  Knowledge  of  the  Sioux.  —  Hennepin  and  Du 
Luth. — Fort  Snell ing.  —  Lakes  Harriet  and  Calhoun. — 
Three  Months  at  Lake  Harriet.  —  Samuel  W.  Pond.  — 
Learning  the  Language.  —  Mr.  Stevens.  —  Temporary 
Home.  —  That  Station  Soon  Broken  Up. —  Mary's  Letters. 

—  The  Mission  and  People. — Native   Customs. — Lord's 
Supper,  — "  Good  Voice."  — Description  of  Our  Home. — 
The  Garrison. — Seeing  St.  Anthony. — Ascent  of  the  St. 
Peters.  — Mary's  Letters.  —  Traverse  des  Sioux.  — Prairie 
Travelling.  —  Reaching  Lac-qui-parle.  —  T.  S.  Williamson. 

—  A  Sabbath  Service.  —  Our  Upper  Room.  — Experiences. 

—  Church  at  Lac-qui-parle. — Mr.    Pond's   Marriage. — 
Mary 's  Letters.  —  Feast< 38 

13 


14  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  III. 

1837-1839.  —The  Language.  —Its  Growth.  —  System  of  Nota 
tion. —  After  Changes. — What  We  Had  to  Put  into  the 
Language.  —  Teaching  English  and  Teaching  Dakota.  — 
Mary's  Letter.  — Fort  Renville.  —  Translating  the  Bible.  — 
The  Gospels  of  Mark  and  John.  —  "  Good  Bird  "  Born.  — 
Dakota  Names.  —  The  Lessons  We  Learned.  —  Dakota 
Washing.  —  Extracts  from  Letters.  —  Dakota  Tents.  —  A 
Marriage.  — Visiting  the  Village.  —  Girls,  Boys,  and  Dogs. 

—  G.  H.  Pond's  Indian  Hunt.  — Three  Families  Killed.  — 
The  Village  Wail.  —  The  Power  of  a  Name.  — Post-Office 
Far  Away. —  The  Coming  of  the  Mail.  —  S.   W.  Pond 
Comes  Up.  —  My  Visit  to  Snelling.  —  Lost  my  Horse.  — 
Dr.  Williamson  Goes  to  Ohio.  — The  Spirit's  Presence.  — 
Prayer. — Mary's  Reports       58 

CHAPTER  IV. 

1838-1840.  —  "  Eagle  Help."  —  His  Power  as  War  Prophet.  — 
Makes  No-Flight  Dance.  —  We  Pray  Against  It.  —  Unsuc 
cessful  on  the  War-Path.  —  Their  Revenge.  —  Jean  Nicol- 
let  and  J.  C.  Fremont.  —  Opposition  to  Schools.  —  Pro 
gress  in  Teaching.  — Method  of  Counting.  —  "  Lake  That 
Speaks."  —Our  Trip  to  Fort  Snelling.  —  Incidents  of  the 
Way.  —  The  Changes  There.  —  Our  Return  Journey.  — 
Birch-Bark  Canoe.  — Mary's  Story.  —  u  Le  Grand  Canoe." 

—  Baby  Born  on  the  Way.  —  Walking  Ten  Miles.  —  Ad 
vantages  of  Travel.  —  My  Visit  to  the  Missouri  River.  — 
"Fort  Pierre."— Results 76 

CHAPTER  V. 

1840-1843.  —  Dakota  Braves.  —  Simon  Anawangmane.  — 
Mary's  Letter.  —  Simon's  Fall. — Maple  Sugar. — Adobe 
Church. —  Catharine's  Letter.  —  Another  Letter  of  Mary's. 

—  Left  Hand's  Case.  —  The  Fifth  Winter.  —  Mary  to  Her 
Brother.  —The  Children's  Morning  Ride.  —Visit  to  Haw- 
ley    and    Ohio.  —  Dakota    Printing.  —  New  Recruits.  — 
Return.  —  Little  Rapids,  —  Traverse  des  Sioux.  —  Steal- 


CONTENTS.  15 

ing  Bread.  —  Forming  a  New  Station.  —  Begging.  —  Op 
position.  —  Thomas  L.  Longley.  —  Meeting  Ojibwas.  — 
Two  Sioux  Killed.  —  Mary's  Hard  Walk 89 

CHAPTER  VI. 

1843-1846.  —  Great  Sorrow.  —  Thomas  Drowned.  —  Mary's 
Letter.  —  The  Indians'  Thoughts.  —  Old  Gray-Leaf.  — 
Oxen  Killed. —  Hard  Field.  —  Sleepy  Eyes'  Horse. —  Indian 
in  Prison.  —  The  Lord  Keeps  Us. — Simon's  Shame. — 
Mary's  Letter.  — Robert  Hopkins  and  Agnes.  — Le  Bland. 

—  White  Man  Ghost.  —  Bennett.  —  Sleepy  Eyes'  Camp.  — 
Drunken  Indians.  —  Making  Sugar.  — Military  Company. 

—  Dakota  Prisoners.  —  Stealing  Melons.  —  Preaching  and 
School.  —A  Canoe  Voyage.  —Red  Wing 104 

CHAPTER  VII. 

1846-1851.  —  Returning  to  Lac-quUparle.  —  Reasons  There 
for.  —  Mary's  Story.  —  "  Give  Me  My  Old  Seat,  Mother." 

—  At  Lac-qui-parle.  —  New  Arrangements.  —  Better  Un 
derstanding.  —  Buffalo  Plenty.  —  Mary's  Story.  —  Little 
Samuel  Died.  —  Going  on  the  Hunt.  —  Vision  of  Home.  — 
Building  House.  —  Dakota  Camp.  —  Soldier's  Lodge.  — 
Wakanmane's  Village.  —  Making  a    Presbytery.  —  New 
Recruits.  — Meeting  at  Kaposia.  —  Mary's  Story.  — Varied 
Trials.  —  Sabbath  Worship.  —  "  What  is  to  Die  ?"  —  New 
Stations.  —  Making  a  Treaty.  —  Mr.  Hopkins  Drowned. 

—  Personal  Experience 123 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

1851-1854. — Grammar  and  Dictionary. — How  It  Grew. —  Pub 
lication.  —  Minnesota  Historical  Society.  —  Smithsonian 
Institution.  —  Going  East.  —  Mission  Meeting  at  Traverse 
des  Sioux.  — Mrs.  Hopkins.  — Death's  Doings.  — Changes 
in  the  Mode  of  Writing  Dakota  —  Completed  Book.  — 
Growth  of  the  Language.  —  In  Brooklyn  and  Philadelphia. 

—  The  Misses  Spooner.  —  Changes  in  the  Mission.  —  The 
Ponds  and  Others  Retire.  —  Dr.  Williamson  at  Pay-zhe- 


16  CONTENTS. 

hoo-ta-ze.  —  Winter  Storms.  —  Andrew  Hunter.  —  Two 
Families  Left.  —  Children  Learning  Dakota.  —  Our  House 
Burned. —The  Lord  Provides 141 

CHAPTER  IX. 

1854-1856.  —  Simon  Anawangmane.  —  Rebuilding  after  the 
Fire.  —  Visit  of  Secretary  Treat.  —  Change  of  Plan.  — 
K  zelwood  Station.  —  Circular  Saw  Mill.  —  Mission  Build 
ings.  —  Chapel.  —  Civilized  Community.  —  Making  Citi 
zens.  —  Boarding-School.  —  Educating  our  own  Children. 
— Financial  Difficulties.  —  The  Lord  Provides.  —  A  Great 
Affliction.  — Smith  Burgess  Williamson.  —  "  Aunt  Jane." 

—  Bunyan's  Pilgrim  in  Dakota 153 

CHAPTER    X. 

1857-1862.  —  Spirit  Lake.  —  Massacres  by  Inkpadoota.  —  The 
Captives.  —  Delivery  of  Mrs.  Marble  and  Miss  Gardner. 

—  Excitement. —  Inkpadoota' s  Son  Killed. —  United  States 
Soldiers.  —  Major  Sherman.  —  Indian  Councils.  —  Great 
Scare.  —  Going  Away.  —  Indians  Sent  After  Scarlet  End. 

—  Quiet  Restored.  —  Children  at  School.  —  Quarter-Cen 
tury  Meeting.  —  John  P.   Williamson  at  Red  Wood.  — 
Dedication  of  Chapel 162 


CHAPTER  XI. 

1861-1862.  —  Republican  Administration.  —  Its  Mistakes.  — 
Changing  Annuities. —  Results.  —  Returning  from  General 
Assembly.  —  A  Marriage  in  St.  Paul. —  D.  Wilson  Moore 
and  Wife. — Delayed  Payment. —  Difficulty  with  the  Sis- 
setons. —  Peace  Again  —  Recruiting  for  the  Southern  War. 
—  Seventeenth  of  August,  1862. —The  Outbreak.  —  Re 
membering  Christ's  Death. — Massacres  Commenced. — 
Capt.  Marsh's  Company. — Our  Flight.  — Reasons  There 
for. —  Escape  to  an  Island. —  Final  Leaving.—  A  Wounded 
Man.  —  Traveling  on  the  Prairie.  —  Wet  Night.  —  Taking 
a  Picture.  —  Change  of  Plan.  —  Night  Travel.  —  Going 


CONTENTS.  17 

Around  Fort  Ridgely.  —  Night  Scares.  —  Safe  Passage.  — 
Four  Men  Killed.  —  The  Lord  Leads  Us.  —  Sabbath.  — 
Reaching  the  Settlements.  —  Mary  at  St.  Anthony  .  .  .171 

CHAPTER  XII. 

1862.  —  General  Sibley's  Expedition.  —  I  Go  as  Chaplain.  — 
At  Fort  Ridgely.  —  The  Burial  Party.  —  Birch  Coolie 
Defeat.  —  Simon  and  Lorenzo  Bring  in  Captives.  — March 
to  Yellow  Medicine. — Battle  of  Wood  Lake. — Indians 
Flee.  —  Camp  Release.  —  A  Hundred  Captives  Rescued. 

—  Amos  W.   Huggins    Killed.— We  Send   for  His  Wife 
and  Children.  —  Spirit  Walker  Has  Protected  Them.  — 
Martha's  Letter 188 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

1862-1863.  —  Military  Commission.  —  Excited  Community.  — 
Dakotas  Condemned.  —  Moving  Camp.  —  The  Campaign 
Closed. — Findings  Sent  to  the  President. —  Reaching  My 
Home  in  St.  Anthony.  —  Distributing  Alms  on  the  Fron 
tier.  —  Recalled  to  Mankato.  —  The  Executions.  —  Thirty- 
eight  Hanged.  — Difficulty  of  Avoiding  Mistakes.  — Round 
Wind.  —  Confessions.  —  The  Next  Sabbath's  Service.  — 
Dr.  Williamson's  Work.  —  Learning  to  Read.  —  The 
Spiritual  Awakening.  —  The  Way  It  Came.  —  Mr.  Pond 
Invited  Up. —  Baptisms  in  the  Prison.  — The  Lord's  Sup 
per.  —  The  Camp  at  Snelling.  —  A  Like  Work  of  Grace. 

—  John  P.    Williamson.  —  Scenes  in   the   Garret.  —  One 
Hundred  Adults  Baptized.  —  Marvelous  in  Our  Eyes     .    .  206 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

1863-1866.  —  The  Dakota  Prisoners  Taken  to  Davenport.  — 
Camp  McClellan.  —  Their  Treatment.  —  Great  Mortality. 

—  Education  in  Prison.  —  Worship  —  Church  Matters.  — 
The  Camp  at  Snelling  Removed  to  Crow  Creek.  —  John 
P.  Williamson's  Story.  —  Many  Die. — Scouts'  Camp. — 
Visits  to  Them. —Family  Threads.  —  Revising  the  New 


18  CONTENTS. 

Testament.  — Educating  Our  Children.  — Removal  to  Be- 
loit.  —  Family  Matters  —  Little  Six  and  Medicine  Bottle. 

—  With  the  Prisoners  at  Davenport 220 

CHAPTER  XV. 

1866-1869.  —  Prisoners  Meet  their  Families  at  the  Niobrara. 

—  Our  Summer's  Visitation.  —  At  the  Scouts'  Camp. — 
Crossing  the  Prairie.  —  Killing  Buffalo.  —  At  Niobrara. 

—  Religious  Meetings.  —  Licensing    Natives.  —  Visiting 
the  Omahas.  —  Scripture  Translating. — Sisseton   Treaty 
at  Washington.  —  Second  Visit  to  the  Santees.  —  Artemas 
and  Titus  Ordained. —  Crossing  to  the  Head  of  the  Coteau. 

—  Organizing  Churches  and  Licensing  Dakotas.  —  Solo 
mon,  Robert,  Louis,  Daniel.  —  On  Horseback  in  1868.  — 
Visit  to  the  Santees,  Yanktons,  and  Brules.  —  Gathering 
at  Dry  Wood.  —  Solomon  Ordained.  —  Writing  "  Takoo 
Wakan."  —  Mary's  Sickness.  — Grand  Hymns. — Going 
through  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow.  —  Death  ! 230 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

1869-1870.  —  Home  Desolate.  —  At  the  General  Assembly.  — 
Summer  Campaign.  — A.  L.  Riggs.  —  His  Story  of  Early 
Life.  —  Inside  View  of  Missions.  —  Why  Missionaries' 
Children  Become  Missionaries. — No  Constraint  Laid  on 
Them.  —  A.  L.  Riggs  Visits  the  Missouri  Sioux.  —  Up  the 
River.  —  The  Brules.  —  Cheyenne  and  Grand  River.  — 
Starting  for  Fort  Wadsworth.  —  Sun  Eclipsed.  —  Sisseton 
Reserve.  —  Deciding  to  Build  There.  —  In  the  Autumn 
Assembly.  —  My  Mother's  Home.  —  Winter  Visit  to  San- 
tee.  —  Julia  La  Framboise 244 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

1870-1871.  —  Beloit  Home  Broken  Up.  —  Building  on  the 
Sisseton  Reserve.  —  Difficulties  and  Cost.  —  Correspon 
dence  with  Washington.  —  Order  to  Suspend  Work.  —  Dis 
regarding  the  Taboo.  —  Anna  Sick  at  Beloit.  —  Assur 
ance.  —  Martha  Goes  in  Anna's  Place.  —  The  Dakota 


CONTENTS. 


19 


Churches.  —  Lac-qui-parle,  Ascension.  —  John  B.  Ren- 
Ville.  _  Daniel  Renville.  —  Houses  of  Worship.  —  Eight 
Churches.  —The  "Word  Carrier."— Annual  Meeting  on 
the  Big  Sioux.  —  Homestead  Colony.  —  How  it  Came 
about.  —  Joseph  Iron  Old  Man.  —  Perished  in  a  Snow 
Storm  —  The  Dakota  Mission  Divides.  —  Reasons  There 
for  256 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

1870-1873.  —  A.  L.  Riggs  Builds  at  Santee.  —  The  Santee 
High  School.  —  Visit  to  Fort  Sully.  —  Change  of  Agents 
at  Sisseton.—  Second  Marriage.  —  Annual  Meeting  at  Good 
Will.  _  Grand  Gathering.  —  New  Treaty  Made  at  Sisse 
ton.  —Nina  Foster  Riggs.  —  Our  Trip  to  Fort  Sully.  —An 
Incident  by  the  Way.  —  Stop  at  Santee.  —  Pastor  Ehna- 
mane.  _  His  Deer  Hunt.  —  Annual  Meeting  in  1873.  — 
Rev.  S.  J.  Humphrey's  Visit.— Mr.  Humphrey's  Sketch. 

—  Where  They  Come  From.  —  Morning  Call.— Visiting 
the  Teepees. —  The  Religious  Gathering. — The  Moderator. 

—  Questions  Discussed. —  The  Personnel. —  Putting  up  a 
Tent.  —  Sabbath  Service.  —  Mission  Reunion       .     .     .     .270 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

1873-1874.  —  The  American  Board  at  Minneapolis.  —  The 
Nidus  of  the  Dakota  Mission.  —  Large  Indian  Delega 
tion.  —  Ehnamane  and  Mazakootemane.  —  "  Then  and 
Now."  —  The  Woman's  Meeting.  —Nina  Foster  Riggs  and 
Lizzie  Bishop— Miss  Bishop's  Work  and  Early  Death.  — 
Manual  Labor  Boarding-School  at  Sisseton.  —  Building 
Dedicated.  —  M.  N.  Adams,  Agent.  —  School  Opened.— 
Mrs.  Armor  and  Mrs.  Morris.— "My  Darling  in  God's 
Garden."  —Visit  to  Fort  Berthold.  —  Mandans,  Rees,  and 
Hidatsa.  —  Dr.  W.  Matthews'  Hidatsa  Grammar.  —  Be 
liefs.  _  Missionary  Interest  in  Berthold.  —  Down  the 
Missouri.  —  Annual  Meeting  at  Santee.  —  Normal  School. 
~-  Pakotas  Build  a  Church  at  Ascension.  —  Journey  to  the 


20  CONTENTS. 

Ojibwas  with  E.  P.  Wheeler.  —  Leech  Lake  and  Red  Lake, 
—  On  the  Gitche  Gumme.  —  "  The  Stoneys."  —  Visit  to 
Odanah.  —  Hope  for  Ojibwas , 


CHAPTER  XX. 

1875-1876.  —  Annual  Meeting  of  1875.  —  Homestead  Settlement 
on  the  Big  Sioux.  —  Interest  of  the  Conference.  —  lapi 
Oaye.  —  Inception  of  Native  Missionary  Work.  —  Theolo 
gical  Class.  —  The  Dakota  Home.  —  Charles  L.  Hall  Or 
dained.  — Dr.  Magoun  of  Iowa.  —  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hall  Sent 
to  Berthold  by  the  American  Board.— The  Word  Carrier's 
Good  Words  to  Them.  —The  Conference  of  1876.  —In  J. 
B.  Renville's  Church.  —  Coming  to  the  Meeting  from 
Sully. —Miss  Whipple's  Story.  —  "Dakota  Missionary 
Society."  —  Miss  Collins'  Story.  —  Impressions  of  the 
Meeting 308 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

1871-1877.  —  The    Wilder     Sioux.  —  Gradual     Openings.  - 
Thomas  Lawrence.  —  Visit  to  the  Land  of  the  Teetons. 

—  Fort  Sully.  —  Hope  Station.  —  Mrs.    General  Stanley 
in  the  Evangelist.  —  Work  by  Native  Teachers.  —  Thomas 
Married  to  Nina  Foster. —Nina's  First  Visit  to  Sully.— 
Attending  the  Conference  and  American  Board.  —  Miss 
Collins  and  Miss  Whipple.  —  Bogue  Station.  —  The  Mis 
sion  Surroundings.  —  Chapel  Built.  —  Mission  Work.  — 
Church  Organized.  —  Sioux  War  of  1876.  —  Community 
Excited.  —  Schools.  —  "  Waiting    for    a    Boat."  —  Miss 
Whipple  Dies  at  Chicago.  —  Mrs.  Nina  Riggs'  Tribute. 

—  The  Conference  of  1877  at  Sully.  —  Questions    Dis 
cussed. —  Grand  Impressions 325 


APPENDIX. 


MONOGRAPHS. 
MRS.  NINA  FOSTER  RIGGS 345 

O£M 

REV.  GIDEON  H.  POND 

SOLOMON 

OQO 

DR.  T.  S.  WILLIAMSON 

399 
A  MEMORIAL 

4.08 

THE  FAMILY  REUNION 


21 


MART  AND   I 

FORTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX. 


CHAPTER  I. 


'"V 


1337.  —  Our  Parentage.  — My  Mother's  Bear  Story.  — Mary's  Edu 
cation.  —  Her  First  School  Teaching.  —  School-houses  and 
Teachers  in  Ohio.  —  Learning  the  Catechism.  —  Ambitions. 

—  The  Lord's  Leading.  —  Mary's   Teaching  in  Bethlehem.— 
Life  Threads  Coming  Together.  —  Licensure.  —  Our  Decision 
as  to  Life  Work.  —  Going  to  New  England.  —  The  Hawley 
Family.  —  Marriage.  —  Going  West.  —  From  Mary's  Letters. 

—  Mrs.    Isabella    Burgess.  —  "  Steamer    Isabella."  —  At    St. 
Louis.  —  The  Mississippi.  —  To  the   City  of    Lead.  —  Rev. 
Aratus  Kent.  —  The  Lord  Provides.  —  Mary's  Descriptions. 
—  Upper  Mississippi.  —  Reaching  Fort  Snelling. 

FORTY  years  ago  this  first  day  of  June,  1877,  Mary  and 
I  came  to  Fort  Snelling.  She  was  from  the  Old  Bay 
State,  and  I  was  a  native-born  Buckeye.  Her  ancestors 
were  the  Longleys  and  Taylors  of  Hawley  and  Buckland, 
names  honorable  and  honored  in  the  western  part  of 
Massachusetts.  Her  father,  Gen.  Thomas  Longley,  was 
for  many  years  a  member  of  the  General  Court  and  had 
served  in  the  war  of  1812,  while  her  grandfather,  Col. 
Edmund  Longley,  had  been  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution, 
and  had  served  under  Washington.  Her  maternal 
grandfather,  Taylor,  had  held  a  civil  commission  under 

23 


"MARYLAND    I. 

George  the  Third.  In  an  early  day  both  families  had 
settled  in  the  hill  country  west  of  the  Connecticut  River. 
They  were  the  true  and  worthy  representatives  of  New 
England. 

As  it  regards  myself,  my  father,  whose  name  was 
Stephen  Riggs,  was  a  blacksmith,  and  for  many  years 
an  elder  in  the  Presbyterian  church  of  Steubenville, 
Ohio,  where  I  was  born.  He  had  a  brother,  Cyrus,  who 
was  a  preacher  in  Western  Pennsylvania ;  and  he  traced 
his  lineage  back,  through  the  Riggs  families  of  New  Jer 
sey,  a  long  line  of  godly  men,  ministers  of  the  gospel  and 
others,  to  Edward  Riggs,*  who  came  over  from  Wales 
in  the  first  days  of  colonial  history.  My  mother  was 
Anna  Baird,  a  model  Christian  woman  —  as  I  think,  of  a 
Scotch  Irish  family,  which  in  the  early  days  settled  in 
Fayette  County,  Pa.  Of  necessity  they  were  pioneers. 
When  they  had  three  children,  they  removed  up  into  the 
wild  wooded  country  of  the  Upper  Alleghany.  My 
mother  could  tell  a  good  many  bear  stories.  At  one 
time  she  and  those  first  three  children  were  left  alone  in 
an  unfinished  log  cabin.  The  father  was  away  hunting 
food  for  the  family.  When,  at  night,  the  fire  was  burn 
ing  in  the  old-fashioned  chimney,  a  large  black  bear 
pushed  aside  the  quilt  that  served  for  the  door,  and,  sit 
ting  down  on  his  haunches,  surveyed  the  scared  family 
within.  But,  as  God  would  have  it,  to  their  great  relief, 
he  retired  without  offering  them  any  violence. 

*  Heretofore,  we  have  supposed  the  first  progenitor  of  the 
Riggs  Family  in  America  was  Miles  ;  but  the  investigations  of 
Mr.  J.  H.  Wallace  of  New  York  show  that  it  was  Edward,  who 
settled  in  Roxbury,  Mass.,  about  the  year  1635.  The  name  of 
Miles  comes  in  later.  He  was  the  progenitor  of  one  branch  of 
the  family. 


FORTY   YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  25 

Mary's  education  had  been  carefully  conducted.  She 
had  not  only  the  advantages  of  the  common  town  school 
and  home  culture,  but  was  a  pupil  of  Mary  Lyon,  when 
she  taught  in  Buckland,  and  afterward  of  Miss  Grant,  at 
Ipswich.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  she  taught  her  first 
school,  in  Williamstown,  Mass.  As  she  used  to  tell  the 
story,  she  taught  for  a  dollar  a  week,  and,  at  the  end  of 
her  first  quarter,  brought  the  $12  home  and  gave  it  to 
her  father,  as  a  recognition  of  what  he  had  expended  for 
her  education. 

It  was  a  joy  to  me  to  meet,  the  other  day  in  Chicago, 
Mrs.  Judge  Osborne,  who  was  one  of  the  scholars  in 
this  school,  as  it  was  in  her  father's  family;  and 
who  spoke  very  affectionately  of  Mary  Ann  Longley, 
her  teacher. 

Contrasted  with  the  present  appliances  for  education 
in  all  the  towns,  and  many  of  the  country  districts  also, 
the  common  schools  in  Ohio,  when  I  was  a  boy,  were 
very  poorly  equipped.  My  first  school-house  was  a  log 
cabin,  with  a  large  open  fireplace,  a  window  with  four 
lights  of  glass  where  the  master's  seat  was,  while  on  the 
other  two  sides  a  log  was  cut  out  and  old  newspapers 
pasted  over  the  hole  through  which  the  light  was  sup 
posed  to  come,  and  the  seats  were  benches  made  of  slabs. 
One  of  my  first  teachers  was  a  drunken  Irishman,  who 
often  visited  the  tavern  near  by  and  came  back  to  sleep 
the  greater  part  of  the  afternoon.  This  gave  us  a  long 
play  spell.  But  he  was  a  terrible  master  for  the  re 
mainder  of  the  day.  Notwithstanding  these  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  education,  we  managed  to  learn  a  good 
deal.  Sabbath-schools  had  not  reached  the  efficiency 
they  now  have ;  but  we  children  were  taught  carefully 
at  home.  We  were  obliged  to  commit  to  memory  the 


26  MARY    AND   I. 

Shorter  Catechism,  and  every  few  months  the  good  min 
ister  came  around  to  see  how  well  we  could  repeat  it. 
All  through  my  life  this  summary  of  Christian  doctrine 
—  not  perfect  indeed,  and  not  to  be  quoted  as  authority 
equal  to  the  Scriptures,  as  it  sometimes  is — has  been  to 
me  of  incalculable  advantage.  What  I  understood  not 
then  I  have  come  to  understand  better  since,  with  the 
opening  of  the  Word  and  the  illumination  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  If  I  were  a  boy  again,  I  would  learn  the  Shorter 
Catechism. 

My  ambition  was  to  learn  some  kind  of  a  trade.  But 
I  had  wrought  enough  with  my  father  at  the  anvil  not  to 
choose  that.  It  was  hard  work,  and  not  over-clean 
work.  Something  else  would  suit  me  better,  I  thought. 
About  that  time  my  sister  Harriet  married  William 
McLaughlin,  who  was  a  well-to-do  harness-maker  in 
Steubenville.  This  suited  my  ideas  of  life  better.  But 
that  sister  died  soon  after  her  marriage,  and  my  father 
removed  from  that  part  of  the  country  to  the  southern 
part  of  the  State.  There  in  Ripley  a  Latin  school  was 
opened  about  that  time,  and  the  Lord  appeared  to  me  in 
a  wonderful  manner,  making  discoveries  of  himself  to  my 
spiritual  apprehension,  so  that  from  that  time  and  on 
ward  my  path  lay  in  the  line  of  preparation  for  such 
service  as  he  should  call  me  unto.  My  father,  as  he 
said  many  years  afterward,  had  intended  to  educate  my 
younger  brother  James ;  but  he  was  taken  away  suddenly, 
and  I  came  in  his  place.  Thus  the  Lord  opened  the  way 
for  a  commencement,  and  by  the  help  of  friends  I  was 
enabled  to  continue  until  I  finished  the  course  at  Jeffer 
son  College,  and  afterward  spent  a  year  at  the  Western 
Theological  Seminary  at  Alleghany. 

Mary  had  been  educated  for  a  teacher.     She  was  well 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  27 

fitted  for  the  work.  And  while  she  was  still  at  Ipswich, 
a  benevolent  gentleman  in  New  York  City,  who  had 
interested  himself  in  establishing  a  seminary  in  Southern 
Indiana,  sent  to  Miss  Grant  for  a  teacher  to  take  charge 
of  the  school  near  Bethlehem,  in  the  family  of  Rev.  John 
M.  Dickey.  It  was  far  away,  but  it  seemed  just  the 
opening  she  had  been  desiring.  But  a  young  woman 
needed  company  in  travelling  so  far  westward.  It  was 
at  the  time  of  the  May  meetings  in  New  York.  Clergy 
men  and  others  were  on  East  from  various  parts  of  the 
West.  In  several  instances,  however,  she  failed  of  the 
company  she  hoped  for,  by  what  seemed  singular  provi 
dences.  And  at  last  it  was  her  lot  to  come  West  under 
the  protection  of  Rev.  Dyer  Burgess,  of  West  Union, 
Ohio.  Mr.  Burgess  was  what  was  called  in  those  days 
"  a  rabid  abolitionist,"  and  had  taken  a  fancy  to  help  me 
along,  because,  as  he  said,  I  was  "of  the  same  craft." 
And  so  it  was  that  during  his  absence  I  was  living  in  his 
family.  This  is  the  way  in  which  the  threads  of  our  two 
lives,  Mary's  and  mine,  were  brought  together.  A  year 
and  a  half  after  this  I  was  licensed  to  preach  the  gospel 
by  the  Chillicothe  Presbytery,  and  we  were  on  our  way 
to  her  mountain  home  in  Massachusetts. 

Before  starting  for  New  England,  the  general  plan  of 
our  life-work  was  arranged.  Early  in  my  course  of  edu 
cation,  I  had  considered  the  claims  of  the  heathen  upon 
us  Christians,  and  upon  myself  personally  as  a  believer 
in  Christ;  and,  with  very  little  hesitation  or  delay,  the 
decision  had  been  reached  that,  God  willing,  I  would 
go  somewhere  among  the  unevangelized.  And,  during 
the  years  of  my  preparation,  there  never  came  to  me  a 
doubt  of  the  nghtness  of  my  decision.  Nay,  more,  at 
the  end  of  forty  years'  work,  I  am  abundantly  satisfied 


28  MARY    AND   I. 

with  the  way  in  which  the  Lord  has  led  me.  If  China 
had  been  then  open  to  the  gospel,  as  it  was  twenty  year* 
afterward,  I  probably  should  have  elected  to  go  there. 
But  Dr.  Thomas  S.  Williamson  of  Ripley,  Ohio,  ha<l 
started  for  the  Dakota  field  the  same  year  that  I  gradu 
ated  from  college.  His  representations  of  the  needs  of 
these  aborigines,  and  the  starting  out  of  Whitman  and 
Spalding  with  their  wives  to  the  Indians  of  the  Pacific 
coast,  attracted  me  to  the  westward.  And  Mary  was 
quite  willing,  if  not  enthusiastic,  to  commence  a  life-work 
among  the  Indians  of  the  North-west,  which  at  that  time 
involved  more  of  sacrifice  than  service  in  many  a  far-off 
foreign  field.  Hitherto,  the  evangelization  of  our  own 
North  American  Indians  had  been,  and  still  is,  in  most 
parts  of  the  field,  essentially  a  foreign  mission  work.  It 
has  differed  little,  except,  perhaps,  in  the  element  of 
greater  self-sacrifice,  from  the  work  in  India,  China,  or 
Japan.  And  so,  with  a  mutual  good  understanding  of 
the  general  plan  of  life's  campaign,  with  very  little  appre 
ciation  of  what  its  difficulties  might  be,  but  with  a  good 
faith  in  ourselves,  and  more  faith  in  Him  who  has  said, 
"Lo,  I  am  with  you  all  days,"  Mary  left  her  school  in 
Bethlehem,  to  which  she  had  become  a  felt  necessity,  and 
I  gathered  up  such  credentials  as  were  necessary  to  the 
consummation  of  our  acceptance  as  missionaries  of  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions, 
and  we  went  eastward. 

Railroads  had  hardly  been  thought  of  in  those  days, 
and  so  what  part  of  the  way  we  were  not  carried  by 
steamboats,  we  rode  in  stages.  It  was  only  the  day  be 
fore  Thanksgiving,  and  a  stormy  evening  it  was,  when 
we  hired  a  very  ordinary  one-horse  wagon  to  carry  us 
and  our  baggage  from  Charlemont  up  to  Hawley.  I  need 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  29 

not  say  that  in  the  old  house  at  home  the  sister  and  the 
daughter  and  granddaughter  found  a  warm  reception, 
and  I,  the  western  stranger,  was  not  long  overlooked. 
It  was  indeed  a  special  Thanksgiving  and  time  of  family 
rejoicing,  when  the  married  sister  and  her  family  were 
gathered,  with  the  brothers,  Alfred  and  Moses  and 
Thomas  and  Joseph,  and  the  little  sister  Henrietta,  and 
the  parents  and  grandparents,  then  still  living.  Since 
that  time,  one  by  one,  they  have  gone  to  the  beautiful 
land  above,  and  only  two  remain. 

Well,  the  winter,  with  its  terrible  storms  and  deep 
snows,  soon  passed  by.  It  was  all  too  short  for  Mary's 
preparation.  I  found  work  waiting  for  me  in  preaching 
to  the  little  church  in  West  Hawley.  They  were  a  prim 
itive  people,  with  but  little  of  what  is  called  wealth,  but 
with  generous  hearts ;  and  the  three  months  I  spent  with 
them  were  profitable  to  me. 

On  the  16th  of  February,  1837,  there  was  a  great  gath 
ering  in  the  old  meeting-house  on  the  hill;  and,  after  the 
service  was  over,  Mary  and  I  received  the  congratulations 
of  hosts  of  friends.  Soon  after  this  the  time  of  our 
departure  came.  The  snow-drifts  were  still  deep  on  the 
hills  when,  in  the  first  days  of  March,  we  commenced 
our  hegira  to  the  far  West.  It  was  a  long  and  toilsome 
journey — all  the  way  to  New  York  City  by  stage,  and 
then  again  from  Philadelphia  across  the  mountains  to 
Pittsburg  in  the  same  manner,  through  the  March  rains 
and  mud,  we  travelled  on,  day  and  night.  It  was  quite  a 
relief  to  sleep  and  glide  down  the  beautiful  Ohio  on  a 
steamer.  And  there  we  found  friends  in  Portsmouth  and 
K'ipley  and  West  Union,  with  whom  we  rested,  and  by 
whom  we  were  refreshed,  and  who  greatly  forwarded  our 
preparations  for  life  among  the  Indians, 


30  MARY    AND    I. 

Of  the  journey  Mary  wrote,  under  date  City  of  Penn, 
March  3,  1837:  "We  were  surprised  to  find  sleighing 
here,  when  there  was  little  at  Hartford  and  none  at  New 
Haven  and  New  York.  We  expect  to  spend  the  Sabbath 
here ;  and  may  the  Lord  bless  the  detention  to  ourselves 
and  others.  Oh,  for  a  heart  more  engaged  to  labor  by  the 
way  —  to  labor  any  and  everywhere" 

In  West  Union,  Ohio,  she  writes  from  Anti-Slavery 
Palace,  April  5 :  "  Brother  Joseph  Riggs  made  us  some 
valuable  presents.  His  kindness  supplied  my  lack  of  a 
good  English  merino,  and  Sister  Riggs  had  prepared 
her  donation  and  laid  it  by,  as  the  Apostle  directs, — 
one  pair  of  warm  blankets,  sheets  and  pillow-cases. 
My  new  nieces  also  seemed  to  partake  of  the  same 
kind  spirit,  and  gave  us  valuable  mementos  of  their 
affection. 

"  We  found  Mrs.  Burgess  not  behind,  and  perhaps  be 
fore  most  of  our  friends,  in  her  plans  and  gifts.  Besides 
a  cooking-stove  and  furniture,  she  has  provided  a  fine 
blanket  and  comforter,  sheets,  pillow-cases,  towels,  dried 
peaches,  etc.  Perhaps  you  will  fear  that  with  so  many 
kind  friends  we  shall  be  furnished  with  too  many  com 
forts.  Pray,  then,  that  we  may  be  kept  very  humble,  and 
receive  these  blessings  thankfully  from  the  Giver  of  every 
good  and  perfect  gift." 

Mrs.  Isabella  Burgess,  the  wife  of  my  friend  Rev. 
Dyer  Burgess,  we  put  into  lasting  remembrance  by  the 
name  we  gave  to  our  first  daughter,  who  is  now  liv 
ing  by  the  great  wall  of  China.  By  and  by  we  found 
ourselves  furnished  with  such  things  as  we  supposed 
we  should  need  for  a  year  to  come,  and  we  bade  adieu 
to  our  Ohio  friends,  and  embarked  at  Cincinnati  for 
St.  Louis. 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  31 


"STEAMER  ISABELLA,  Thursday  Eve,  May  4. 

"We  have  been  highly  favored  thus  far  on  our  way 
down  the  Ohio.  We  took  a  last  look  of  Indiana  about 
noon,  and  saw  the  waters  of  the  separating  Wabash  join 
those  of  the  Ohio,  and  yet  flow  on  without  commingling 
for  ten  or  twelve  miles,  marking  their  course  by  their 
blue  tint  and  purer  shade.  The  banks  are  much  lower 
here  than  nearer  the  source,  sometimes  gently  sloping  to 
the  water's  edge,  and  bearing  such  marks  of  inundation 
as  trunks  and  roots  of  trees  half  imbedded  in  the  sand, 
or  cast  higher  up  on  the  shore.  At  intervals  we  passed 
some  beautiful  bluffs,  not  very  high,  but  very  verdant, 
and  others  more  precipitous.  Bold,  craggy  rocks,  with 
evergreen-tufted  tops,  and  a  few  dwarf  stragglers  on  their 
sides.  One  of  them  contained  a  cave,  apparently  dark 
enough  for  deeds  of  darkest  hue,  and  probably  it  may 
have  witnessed  many  perpetrated  by  those  daring  bandits 
that  prowled  about  these  bluffs  during  the  early  settle 
ment  of  Illinois. 

"Friday  Eve.  —  This  morning,  when  we  awoke,  we 
found  ourselves  in  the  muddy  waters  of  the  broad  Mis 
sissippi.  They  are  quite  as  muddy  as  those  of  a  shallow 
pond  after  a  severe  shower.  We  drink  it,  however,  and 
find  the  taste  not  quite  as  unpleasant  as  one  might  sup 
pose  from  its  color,  though  quite  warm.  The  river  is 
very  wide  here,  and  beautifully  spotted  with  large 
islands.  Their  sandy  points,  the  muddy  waters,  and 
abounding  snags  render  navigation  more  dangerous  than 
on  the  Ohio.  We  have  met  with  no  accident  yet,  and  I 
am  unconscious  of  fear.  I  desire  to  trust  in  Him  who 
rules  the  water  as  well  as  the  lands," 


32  MARY    AND    I. 

"  ST.  Louis,  May  8,  1837. 

"  Had  you  been  with  us  this  morning,  you  would  have 
sympathized  with  us  in  what  seemed  to  be  a  detention 
in  the  journey  to  our  distant  unfound  home  in  the  wilder 
ness,  when  we  heard  that  the  Fur  Company's  boat  left  for 
Fort  Snelling  last  week.  You  can  imagine  our  feelings, 
our  doubts,  our  hopes,  our  fears  rushing  to  our  hearts,  but 
soon  quieted  with  the  conviction  that  the  Lord  would 
guide  us  in  his  own  time  to  the  field  where  he  would  have 
us  labor.  We  feel  that  we  have  done  all  in  our  power  to 
hasten  on  our  journey  and  to  gain  information  in  reference 
to  the  time  of  leaving  this  city.  Having  endeavored  to  do 
this,  we  have  desired  to  leave  the  event  with  God,  and  he 
will  still  direct.  We  now  have  some  ground  for  hope  that 
another  boat  will  ascend  the  river  in  a  week  or  two,  and, 
if  so,  we  shall  avail  ourselves  of  the  opportunity.  Till 
we  learn  something  more  definitely  in  regard  to  it,  we 
shall  remain  at  Alton,  if  we  are  prospered  in  reaching 
there." 

In  those  days  the  Upper  Mississippi  was  still  a  wild 
and  almost  uninhabited  region.  Such  places  as  Daven 
port  and  Rock  Island,  which  now  together  form  a  large 
centre  of  population,  had  then,  all  told,  only  about  a 
dozen  houses.  The  lead  mines  of  Galena  and  Dubuque 
had  gathered  in  somewhat  larger  settlements.  Above 
them  there  was  nothing  but  Indians  and  military.  So 
that  a  steamer  starting  for  Fort  Snelling  was  a  rare  thing. 
It  was  said  that  less  than  half  a  dozen  in  a  season  reached 
that  point.  Indeed,  there  was  nothing  to  carry  up  but 
goods  for  the  Indian  trade,  and  army  supplies.  Some 
friends  at  Alton  invited  us  to  come  and  spend  the  inter 
vening  time.  There  we  were  kindly  entertained  in  the 


FOKTY   YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  33 

family  of  Mr.  Winthrop  S.  Gilraan,  who  has  since  been 
one  of  the  substantial  Christian  business  men  in  New 
York  City.  On  our  leaving,  Mr.  Oilman  bade  us  "  look 
upward,"  which  has  ever  been  one  of  our  life  mottoes. 

At  that  time,  a  steamer  from  St.  Louis  required  at 
least  two  full  weeks  to  reach  Fort  Snelling.  It  was  an 
object  with  us  not  to  travel  on  the  Sabbath,  if  possible. 
So  we  planned  to  go  up  beforehand,  and  take  the  up-river 
boat  at  the  highest  point.  It  might  be,  we  thought,  that 
the  Lord  would  arrange  things  for  us  so  that  we  should 
reach  our  mission  field  without  travelling  on  the  Day  of 
Rest.  With  this  desire  we  embarked  for  Galena.  But 
Saturday  night  found  us  passing  along  by  the  beautiful 
country  of  Rock  Island  and  Davenport.  In  the  latter 
place  Mary  and  I  spent  a  Sabbath,  and  worshipped  with  a 
few  of  the  pioneer  people  who  gathered  in  a  school- 
house.  By  the  middle  of  the  next  week  we  had  reached 
the  city  of  lead.  There  we  found  the  man  who  had  said 
to  the  Home  Missionary  Society,  "  If  you  have  a  place 
so  difficult  that  no  one  wants  to  go  to  it,  send  me  there." 
And  they  sent  the  veteran,  Rev.  Aratus  Kent,  to  Galena, 
Illinois. 

Some  of  the  scenes  and  events  connected  with  our 
ascent  of  the  Mississippi  are  graphically  described  by 
Mary's  facile  pen : 

"  STEAMBOAT  OLIVE  BRANCH,  May  17. 
"  We  are  now  on  our  way  to  Galena,  where  we  shall 
probably  take  a  boat  for  St.  Peters.  We  pursue  this 
course,  though  it  subjects  us  to  the  inconvenience  of 
changing  boats,  that  we  may  be  able  to  avoid  Sabbath 
travelling,  if  possible.  One  Sabbath  at  least  will  be 
rescued  in  this  way,  as  the  Pavilion,  the  only  boat  for 


34  MAKY    AND    I. 

St.  Peters  at  present,  leaves  St.  Louis  on  Sunday !  This 
we  felt  would  not  be  right  for  us,  consequently  we  left 
Alton  to-day,  trusting  that  the  Lord  of  the  Sabbath  would 
speed  us  on  our  journey  of  3000  miles,  and  enable  us  to 
keep  his  Sabbath  holy  unto  the  end  thereof. 

"  Of  the  scenery  we  have  passed  this  afternoon,  and 
are  still  passing,  I  can  give  you  no  just  conceptions.  It 
beggars  description,  and  yet  I  wish  you  could  imagine 
the  Illinois  semi-circular  shores  lined  with  high  rocks, 
embosomed  by  trees  of  most  delicate  green,  and  crowned 
with  a  grassy  mound  of  the  same  tint,  or  rising  more  per 
pendicularly  and  towering  more  loftily  in  solid  columns, 
defying  art  to  form  or  demolish  works  so  impregnable, 
and  at  the  same  time  so  grand  and  beautiful.  I  have 
just  been  gazing  at  these  everlasting  rocks  mellowed  by 
the  soft  twilight.  A  bend  in  the  river  and  an  island 
made  them  apparently  meet  the  opposite  shore.  The 
departing  light  of  day  favored  the  illusion  of  a  splendid 
city  reaching  for  miles  along  the  river,  built  of  granite 
and  marble,  and  shaded  by  luxuriant  groves,  all  reflected 
in  the  quiet  waters.  This  river  bears  very  little  resem 
blance  to  itself  (as  geographies  name  it)  after  its  junc 
tion  with  the  Missouri.  To  me  it  seems  a  misnomer  to 
name  a  river  from  a  branch  which  is  so  dissimilar.  The 
waters  here  are  comparatively  pure  and  the  current  mild. 
Below,  they  are  turbid  and  impetuous,  rolling  on  in  their 
power,  and  sweeping  all  in  their  pathway  onward  at  the 
rate  of  five  or  six  miles  an  hour. 

"Just  below  the  junction  we  were  astonished  and 
amused  to  see  large  spots  of  muddy  water  surrounded  by 
those  of  a  purer  shade,  as  if  they  would  retain  their 
distinctive  character  to  the  last ;  but  in  vain,  for  the  les 
ser  was  contaminated  and  swallowed  up  by  the  greater. 


FORTY    YEAKS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  35 

I  might  moralize  on  this,  but  will  leave  each  one  to  draw 
his  own  inferences." 

"STEPHENSON  (now  Davenport),  May  22. 
"We  left  the  Olive  Branch  between  10  and  11  on 
Saturday  night.  The  lateness  of  the  hour  obliged  us  to 
accept  of  such  accommodations  as  presented  themselves 
first,  and  even  made  us  thankful  for  them,  though  they 
were  the  most  wretched  I  ever  endured.  I  do  not  allude 
to  the  house  or  table,  though  little  or  nothing  could  be 
said  in  their  praise,  but  to  the  horrid  profanity.  Con 
nected  with  the  house  and  adjoining  our  room  was  a 
grocery,  a  devil's  den  indeed,  and  so  often  were  the  fre 
quent  volleys  of  dreadful  oaths  that  our  hearts  grew  sick, 
and  we  shuddered  and  sought  to  shut  our  ears.  Not 
withstanding  all  this,  we  were  happier  than  if  we  had 
been  travelling  on  God's  holy  day.  Our  consciences 
approved  resting  according  to  the  commandment,  though 
they  did  not  chide  for  removing,  even  on  the  Sabbath,  to 
a  house  were  God's  name  is  not  used  so  irreverently  — 

so  profanely." 

11  GALENA,  May  23. 

"  This  place,  wild  and  hilly,  we  reached  this  afternoon, 
and  have  been  very  kindly  received  by  some  Yankee 
Christian  friends,  where  we  feel  ourselves  quite  at  home, 
though  only  inmates  of  this  hospitable  mansion  a  few 
hours.  Surely  the  Lord  has  blessed  us  above  measure  in 
providing  warm  Christian  hearts  to  receive  us.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Fuller,  where  we  are,  supply  the  place  of  the  Gil- 
mans  of  Alton.  We  hope  to  leave  in  a  day  or  two  for 
Fort  Snelling." 

"  GALENA,  111.,  May  25,  1837. 

"A  kind  Providence  has  so  ordered  our  affairs  that  we 
are  detained  here  still,  and  I  hope  our  stay  may  promote 


36  MARY    AND    I. 

the  best  interests  of  the  mission.  It  seems  desirable 
that  Christians  in  these  villages  of  the  Upper  Mississippi 
should  become  interested  in  the  missionaries  and  the 
missions  among  the  northern  Indians,  that  their  preju 
dices  may  be  overcome  and  their  hearts  made  to  feel  the 
claims  those  dark  tribes  have  upon  their  sympathies, 
their  charities,  and  their  prayers." 

"  STEAMER  PAVILION,  Upper  Mississippi,  May  31. 

"  We  are  this  evening  (Wednesday)  more  than  100 
miles  above  Prairie  du  Chien,  on  our  way  to  St.  Peters, 
which  we  hope  to  reach  before  the  close  of  the  week, 
that  we  may  be  able  to  keep  the  Sabbath  on  shore.  You 
will  rejoice  with  us  that  we  have  been  able,  in  all  our 
journey  of  3000  miles,  to  rest  from  travelling  on  the  Sab 
bath.  Last  Saturday,  however,  our  principles  and  feel 
ings  were  tried  by  this  boat,  for  which  we  had  waited 
three  weeks,  and  watched  anxiously  for  the  last  few  days, 
fearing  it  would  subject  us  to  Sabbath  travelling.  Sat 
urday  eve,  after  sunset,  when  our  wishes  had  led  us  to 
believe  it  would  not  leave,  if  it  should  reach  Galena 
until  Monday,  we  heard  a  boat,  and  soon  our  sight  con 
firmed  our  ears.  Mr.  Riggs  hastened  on  board  and 
ascertained  from  the  captain  that  he  should  leave  Sab 
bath  morning.  The  inquiry  was,  shall  we  break  one 
command  in  fulfilling  another  ?  We  soon  decided  that 
it  was  not  our  duty  to  commence  a  journey  under  these 
circumstances  even,  and  retired  to  rest,  confident  the 
Lord  would  provide  for  us.  Notwithstanding  our  pros 
pects  were  rather  dark,  I  felt  a  secret  hope  that  the  Lord 
would  detain  the  Pavilion  until  Monday.  If  I  had  any 
faith  it  was  very  weak,  for  I  felt  deeply  conscious  we 
were  entirely  undeserving  such  a  favor.  But  judge  of 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  37 

our  happy  surprise,  morning  and  afternoon,  on  our  way  to 
and  from  church,  to  find  the  Pavilion  still  at  the  wharf. 
We  felt  that  it  was  truly  a  gracious  providence.  On 
Monday  morning  we  came  on  board." 

This  week  on  the  Upper  Mississippi  was  one  of  quiet 
joy.  We  had  been  nearly  three  months  on  our  way  from 
Mary's  home  in  Massachusetts.  God  had  prospered  us 
all  the  way.  Wherever  we  had  stopped  we  had  found 
or  made  friends.  The  Lord,  as  we  believed,  had  signally 
interfered  in  our  behalf,  and  helped  us  to  "  remember  the 
Sabbath  day,"  and  to  give  our  testimony  to  its  sacred 
observance.  The  season  of  the  year  was  inspiring.  A 
resurrection  to  new  life  had  just  taken  place.  All  exter 
nal  nature  had  put  on  her  beautiful  garments.  And  day 
after  day  —  for  the  boat  tied  up  at  night  —  we  found 
ourselves  passing  by  those  grand  old  hills  and  wonderful 
escarpments  of  the  Upper  Mississippi.  We  were  in  the 
wilds  of  the  West,  beyond  the  cabins  of  the  pioneer.  We 
were  passing  the  battle-fields  of  Indian  story.  Nay, 
more,  we  were  already  in  the  land  of  the  Dakotas,  and 
passing  by  the  teepees  and  the  villages  of  the  red  man,  for 
whose  enlightenment  and  elevation  we  had  left  friends 
and  home.  Was  it  strange  that  this  was  a  week  of  in 
tense  enjoyment,  of  education,  of  growth  in  the  life  of 
faith  and  hope  ?  And  so,  as  I  said  in  the  beginning,  on 
the  first  day  of  June,  1837,  Mary  and  I  reached,  in  safety, 
the  mouth  of  the  Minnesota,  in  the  land  of  the  Dako- 
tns. 


CHAPTER  II. 

1837.  —  First  Knowledge  of  the  Sioux.  —  Hennepin  and  Du  Luth.  — 
Fort  Snelling.  —  Lakes  Harriet  and  Calhoun.  —  Three  Months 
at  Lake  Harriet. — Samuel  W.  Pond. — Learning  the  Lan 
guage.  —  Mr.  Stevens.  —  Temporary  Home.  —  That  Station 
Soon  Broken  Up. —  Mary's  Letters.  —  The  Mission  and  People. 
Native  Customs.  —  Lord's  Supper, — "Good  Voice." — De 
scription  of  Our  Home.  —  The  Garrison.  —  Seeing  St.  Anthony. 
—  Ascent  of  the  St.  Peters. —Mary's  Letters.  —  Traverse 
des  Sioux.  —  Prairie  Travelling.  —  Rea'ching  Lac-qui-parle.  — 
T.  S.  Williamson. — A  Sabbath  Service.  —  Our  Upper  Room. 
Experiences.—  Church  at  Lac-qui-parle. — Mr.  Pond's  Mar 
riage.  —  Mary's  Letters.  —  Feast. 

ABOUT  two  hundred  and  forty  years  ago,  the  French 
voyagers  and  fur  traders,  as  they  came  from  Nouvelle, 
France,  up  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Great  Lakes, 
began  to  hear,  from  Indians  farther  east,  of  a  great  and 
warlike  people,  whom  they  called  Nadouwe  or  Nado- 
waessi,  enemies.  Coming  nearer  to  them,  both  trader 
and  priest  met,  at  the  head  of  Lake  Superior,  representa 
tives  of  this  nation,  "  numerous  and  fierce,  always  at  war 
with  other  tribes,  pushing  northward  and  southward  and 
westward,"  so  that  they  were  sometimes  called  the  "  Iro- 
quois  of  the  West." 

But  really  not  much  was  known  of  the  Sioux  until  the 
summer  of  1680,  when  Hennepin  and  Du  Luth  met  in  a 
camp  of  Dakotas,  as  they  hunted  buffalo  in  what  is  now 
north-western  Wisconsin.  Hennepin  had  been  captured 
by  a  war-party,  which  descended  the  Father  of  Waters  in 

38 


FOETY    YEAES    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  39 

their  canoes,  seeking  for  scalps  among  their  enemies,  the 
Miamis  and  Illinois.  They  took  him  and  his  companions 
of  the  voyage  up  to  their  villages  on  the  head-waters  of 
Rum  River,  and  around  the  shores  of  Mille  Lac  and  Knife 
Lake.  From  the  former  of  these  the  eastern  band  of  the 
Sioux  nation  named  themselves  Mdaywakantonwan, 
Spirit  Lake  Villagers;  and  from  the  latter  they  in 
herited  the  name  of  Santees  (Isanyati),  Dwellers  on  Knife. 

These  two  representative  Frenchmen,  thus  brought  to 
gether,  at  so  early  a  day,  in  the  wilds  of  the  West,  visited 
the  home  of  the  Sioux,  as  above  indicated,  and  to  them 
we  are  indebted  for  much  of  what  we  know  of  the  Dako- 
tas  two  centuries  ago. 

The  Ojibwas  and  Hurons  were  then  occupying  the 
southern  shores  of  Lake  Superior,  and,  coming  first  into 
communication  with  the  white  race,  they  were  first 
supplied  with  fire-arms,  which  gave  them  such  an  advan 
tage  over  the  more  warlike  Sioux  that,  in  the  next 
hundred  years,  we  find  the  Ojibwas  in  possession  of  all 
the  country  on  the  head-waters  of  the  Mississippi,  while 
the  Dakotas  had  migrated  southward  and  westward. 

The  general  enlistment  of  the  Sioux,  and  indeed  of  all 
these  tribes  of  the  North-west,  on  the  side  of  the  British 
in  the  war  of  1812,  showed  the  necessity  of  a  strong 
military  garrison  in  the  heart  of  the  Indian  country. 
Hence  the  building  of  Fort  Snelling  nearly  sixty  years 
ago.  At  the  confluence  of  the  Minnesota  with  the  Mis 
sissippi,  and  on  the  high  point  between  the  two  it  has  an 
admirable  outlook.  So  it  seemed  to  us  as  we  approached 
it  on  that  first  day  of  June,  1837.  On  our  landing  we 
became  the  guests  of  Lieutenant  Ogden  and  his  excellent 
wife,  who  was  the  daughter  of  Major  Loomis.  To  Mary 
and  me,  every  thing  was  new  and  strange.  We  knew 


40  MARY    AND   I. 

nothing  of  military  life.  But  our  sojourn  of  a  few  days 
was  made  pleasant  and  profitable  by  the  Christian  sym 
pathy  which  met  us  there  —  the  evidence  of  the  Spirit's 
presence,  which,  two  years  before,  had  culminated  in  the 
organization  of  a  Christian  church  in  the  garrison,  on  the 
arrival  of  the  first  missionaries  to  the  Dakotas. 

The  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  and  the  beautiful  Minne- 
haha  have  now  become  historic,  and  Minnetonka  has 
become  a  place  of  summer  resort.  But  forty  years  ago 
it  was  only  now  and  then  that  the  eyes  of  a  white 
man,  and  still  more  rarely  the  eyes  of  a  white  woman, 
looked  upon  the  Falls  of  Curling  Water ;  *  and  scarcely  any 
one  knew  that  the  water  in  Little  Falls  Creek  came  from 
Minnetonka  Lake.  But  nearer  by  were  the  beautiful 
lakes  Calhoun  and  Harriet.  On  the  first  of  these  was 
the  Dakota  Village,  of  which  Claudman  and  Drifter 
were  then  the  chiefs  ;  and  on  whose  banks  the  brothers 
Pond  had  erected  the  first  white  man's  cabin  ;  and  on  the 
north  bank  of  the  latter  was  a  mission  station  of  the 
American  Board,  commenced  two  years  before  by  Rev. 
Jedediah  D.  Stevens. 

Here  we  were  in  daily  contact  with  the  Dakota  men, 
women,  and  children.  Here  we  began  to  listen  to  the 
strange  sounds  of  the  Dakota  tongue ;  and  here  we  made 
our  first  laughable  efforts  in  speaking  the  language. 

We  were  fortunate  in  meeting  here  Rev.  Samuel  W. 
Pond,  the  older  of  the  brothers,  who  had  come  out  from 
Connecticut  three  years  previous,  and,  in  advance  of  all 
others,  had  erected  their  missionary  cabin  on  the  margin 
of  Lake  Calhoun.  Mr.  Pond's  knowledge  of  Dakota  was 

*  Minnehaha  means  "  Curling  Water,"  not  "Laughing  Water," 
as  many  suppose. 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  41 

quite  ~  nelp  to  us,  who  were  just  commencing  to  learn  it. 
Before  we  left  the  States,  it  had  been  impressed  upon  us 
by  Secretary  David  Greene  that  whether  we  were  suc 
cessful  missionaries  or  not  depended  much  on  our  acquir 
ing  a  free  use  of  the  language.  And  the  teaching  of  my 
own  experience  and  observation  is  that  if  one  fails  to 
make  a  pretty  good  start  the  first  year  in  its  acquisition, 
it  will  be  a  rare  thing  if  he  ever  masters  the  language. 
And  so,  obedient  to  our  instructions,  we  made  it  our  first 
work  to  get  our  ears  opened  to  the  strange  sounds,  and 
our  tongues  made  cunning  for  their  utterance.  Often 
times  we  laughed  at  our  own  blunders,  as  when  I  told 
Mary,  one  day,  that  pish  was  the  Dakota  for  fish.  A 
Dakota  boy  had  been  trying  to  speak  the  English  word. 
Mr.  Stevens  had  gathered,  from  various  sources,  a  vocab 
ulary  of  five  or  six  hundred  words.  This  formed  the 
commencement  of  the  growth  of  the  Dakota  Grammar 
and  Dictionary  which  I  published  fifteen  years  after 
ward. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stevens  were  from  Central  New  York, 
and  were  engaged  as  early  as  1827  in  missionary  labors 
on  the  Island  of  Mackinaw.  In  1829,  Mr.  Stevens  and 
Rev.  Mr.  Coe  made  a  tour  of  exploration  through  the 
wilds  of  Northern  Wisconsin,  coming  as  far  as  Fort  Snell- 
ing.  For  several  years  thereafter,  Mr.  Stevens  was 
connected  with  the  Stockbridge  mission  on  Fox  Lake  ; 
and  in  the  summer  of  1835  he  had  commenced  this  sta 
tion  at  Lake  Harriet.  At  the  time  of  our  arrival  he  had 
made  things  look  quite  civilized.  He  had  built  two 
1  muses  of  tamarack  logs,  the  larger  of  which  his  own 
family  occupied  ;  the  lower  part  of  the  other  was  used  for 
the  school  and  religious  meetings.  Half  a  dozen  board 
ing  scholars,  chiefly  half-breed  girls,  formed  the  nucleus 


42  MARY   AND   I. 

of  the  school,  which  was  taught  by  his  niece,  Miss  Lucy 
C.  Stevens,  who  was  afterward  married  to  Rev.  Daniel 
Gavan,  of  the  Swiss  mission  to  the  Dakotas. 

As  the  mission  family  was  already  quite  large  enough 
for  comfort,  Mary  and  I,  not -wishing  to  add  to  any  one's 
burdens,  undertook  to  make  ourselves  comfortable  in  a 
part  of  the  school-building.  Our  stay  there  was  to  be  only 
temporary,  and  hence  it  was  only  needful  that  we  take 
care  of  ourselves,  and  give  such  occasional  help  in  the 
way  of  English  preaching  and  otherwise  as  we  could. 
The  Dakotas  did  not  yet  care  to  hear  the  gospel.  The 
Messrs.  Pond  had  succeeded  in  teaching  one  young  man 
to  read  and  write,  and  occasionally  a  few  could  be  in 
duced  to  come  and  listen  to  the  good  news.  It  was  seed- 
sowing  time.  Many  seeds  fell  by  the  wayside  or  on  the 
hard  path  of  sin.  Most  fell  among  thorns.  But  some 
found  good  ground,  and,  lying  dormant  a  full  quarter  of  a 
century,  then  sprang  up  and  fruited  in  the  prison  at  Man- 
kato.  Also  of  the  girls  in  that  first  Dakota  boarding- 
school  quite  a  good  proportion  became  Christian  women 
and  the  mothers  of  Christian  families. 

But  the  mission  at  Lake  Harriet  was  not  to  continue 
long.  In  less  than  two  years  from  the  time  we  were 
there,  two  Ojibwa  young  men  avenged  the  killing  of  their 
father  by  waylaying  and  killing  a  prominent  man  of  the 
Lake  Calhoun  Village.  A  thousand  Ojibwas  had  just  left 
Fort  Snelling  to  return  to  their  homes  by  way  of  Lake 
St.  Croix  and  the  Rum  River.  Both  parties  were  followed 
by  the  Sioux,  and  terrible  slaughter  ensued.  But  the 
result  of  their  splendid  victory  was  that  the  Lake  Cal 
houn  people  were  afraid  to  live  there  any  longer,  and  so 
they  abandoned  their  village  and  plantings  and  settled  on 
the  banks  of  the  Minnesota, 


FOKTY    YEAKS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  43 

During  our  three  months'  stay  at  Lake  Harriet,  every 
thing  we  saw  and  heard  was  fresh  and  interesting,  and 
Mary  could  not  help  telling  of  them  to  her  friends  in 
Hawley.  The  grandfather  was  ninety  years  old,  to  whom 
she  thus  wrote  :  — 

"LAKE  HARRIET,  June  22,  1837. 

"  We  are  now  on  missionary  ground,  and  are  surrounded 
by  those  dark  people  of  whom  we  often  talked  at  your 
fireside  last  winter.  I  doubt  not  you  will  still  think  and 
talk  about  them,  and  pray  for  them  also.  And  surely 
your  grandchildren  will  not  be  forgotten. 

"  We  reached  this  station  two  weeks  since,  after  enjoy 
ing  Lieutenant  Ogden's  hospitality  a  few  days,  and  were 
kindly  welcomed  by  Mr.  Stevens'  family,  with  whom  we 
remain  until  a  house,  now  occupied  by  the  school,  can  be 
prepared,  so  that  we  can  live  in  a  part  of  it.  Then  we 
shall  feel  still  more  at  home,  though  I  hope  our  rude 
habitation  will  remind  us  that  we  are  pilgrims  on  our  way 
to  a  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens. 

"  The  situation  of  the  mission  houses  is  very  beautiful, 
—  on  a  little  eminence,  just  upon  the  shore  of  a  lovely 
lake  skirted  with  trees.  About  a  mile  north  of  us  is  Lake 
Calhoun,  on  the  margin  of  which  is  an  Indian  village 
of  about  twenty  lodges.  Most  of  these  are  bark  houses, 
some  of  which  are  twenty  feet  square,  and  others  are 
tents,  of  skin  or  cloth.  Several  days  since  I  walked  over 
to  the  village,  and  called  at  the  house  of  one  of  the 
chiefs.  He  was  not  at  home,  but  his  daughters  smiled 
very  good-naturedly  upon  us.  We  seated  ourselves  on 
a  frame  extending  on  three  sides  of  the  house,  covered 
with  skins,  which  was  all  the  bed,  sofa,  and  chairs  they 
had, 


44  MARY    AND    I. 

"  Since  our  visit  at  the  village,  two  old  chiefs  have 
called  upon  us.  One  said,  this  was  a  very  bad  country, — 
ours  was  a  good  country,  —  we  had  left  a  good  country, 
and  come  to  live  in  his  bad  country,  and  he  was  glad. 
The  other  called  on  Sabbath  evening,  when  Mr.  Riggs 
was  at  the  Fort,  where  he  preaches  occasionally.  He 
inquired  politely  how  I  liked  the  country,  and  said  it  was 
bad.  What  could  a  courtier  have  said  more  ? 

"  The  Indians  come  here  at  all  hours  of  the  day  with 
out  ceremony,  sometimes  dressed  and  painted  very  fan 
tastically,  and  again  with  scarcely  any  clothing.  One 
came  in  yesterday  dressed  in  a  coat,  calico  shirt,  and  cloth 
leggins,  the  only  one  I  have  seen  with  a  coat,  excepting 
two  boys  who  were  in  the  family  when  we  came.  The 
most  singular  ornament  I  have  seen  was  a  large  striped 
snake,  fastened  among  the  painted  hair,  feathers,  and  rib 
bons  of  an  Indian's  head-dress,  in  such  a  manner  that  it 
could  coil  round  in  front  and  dart  out  its  snake  head,  or 
creep  down  upon  the  back  at  pleasure.  During  this  the 
Indian  sat  perfectly  at  ease,  apparently  much  pleased  at 
the  astonishment  and  fear  manifested  by  some  of  the 
family." 

"June  26. 

"Yesterday  Mr.  Riggs  and  myself  commemorated  a 
Saviour's  love  for  the  first  time  on  missionary  ground. 
The  season  was  one  of  precious  interest,  sitting  down  at 
Jesus'  table  with  a  little  band  of  brothers  and  sisters,  one 
of  whom  was  a  Chippewa  convert,  who  accompanied  Mr. 
Ayer  from  Pokeguma.  One  of  the  Methodist  mission 
aries,  Mr.  King,  with  a  colored  man,  and  the  members  of 
the  church  from  the  Fort  and  the  mission,  completed  our 
band  of  fifteen.  Two  of  these  were  received  on  this 
occasion,  Several  Sioux  were  present,  and  gazed  on  the 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  45 

strange  scene  before  them.  A  medicine  man,  Howashta 
by  name,  was  present,  with  a  long  pole  in  his  hand,  hav 
ing  his  head  decked  with  a  stuffed  bird  of  brilliant 
plumage,  and  the  tail  of  another  of  dark  brown.  His 
name  means  "  Good  Voice,"  and  he  is  building  him  a  log 
house  not  far  from  the  mission.  If  he  could  be  brought 
into  the  fold  of  the  Kind  Shepherd,  and  become  a  humble 
and  devoted  follower  of  Jesus,  he  might  be  instrumental 
of  great  good  to  his  people.  He  might  indeed  be  a 
Good  Voice  bringing  glad  tidings  to  their  dark  souls." 

TO    HER   MOTHER. 

"HOME,  July  8,  1837. 

"  Would  that  you  could  look  in  upon  us ;  but  as  you 
can  not,  I  will  try  and  give  you  some  idea  of  our  home. 
The  building  fronts  the  lake,  but  our  part  opens  upon 
the  woodland  back  of  its  western  shore.  The  lower  room 
has  a  small  cooking-stove,  given  us  by  Mrs.  Burgess,  a 
few  chairs  and  a  small  table,  a  box  and  barrel  containing 
dishes,  etc.,  a  small  will-be  pantry,  when  completed,  under 
the  stairs,  filled  with  flour,  corn-meal,  beans,  and  stove 
furniture.  Our  chamber  is  low,  and  nearly  filled  by  a  bed, 
a  small  bureau  and  stand,  a  table  for  writing,  made  of  a 
box,  and  the  rest  of  our  half-dozen  chairs  and  one  rocking- 
chair,  cushioned  by  my  mother's  kind  forethought. 

"The  rough,  loose  boards  in  the  chamber  are  covered 
with  a  coarse  and  cheap  hair-and-tow  carpeting,  to  save 
labor.  The  floor  below  will  require  some  cleaning,  but  I 
shall  not  try  to  keep  it  white.  I  have  succeeded  very 
well,  according  to  my  judgment,  in  household  affairs, — 
that  is,  very  well  for  me. 

"  Some  Indian  women  came  in  yesterday  bringing 
strawberries,  which  I  purchased  with  beans.  Poor  crea- 


46  MAKY    AND   I. 

tures,  they  have  very  little  food  of  any  kind  at  this  season 
of  the  year,  and  we  feel  it  difficult  to  know  how  much  it 
is  our  duty  to  give  them. 

"  We  are  not  troubled  with  all  the  insects  which  used 
to  annoy  me  in  Indiana,  but  the  mosquitoes  are  far  more 
abundant.  At  dark,  swarms  fill  our  room,  deafen  our 
ears,  and  irritate  our  skin.  For  the  last  two  evenings  we 
have  filled  our  house  with  smoke,  almost  to  suffocation, 
to  disperse  these  our  officious  visitors." 

"July  31. 

"Until  my  location  here,  I  was  not  aware  that  it  was 
so  exceedingly  common  for  officers  in  the  army  to  have 
two  wives  or  more,  —  but  one,  of  course,  legally  so.  For 
instance,  at  the  Fort,  before  the  removal  of  the  'last 
troops,  there  were  but  two  officers  who  were  not  known 
to  have  an  Indian  woman,  if  not  half-Indian  children. 
You  remember  I  used  to  cherish  some  partiality  for  the 
military,  but  I  must  confess  the  last  vestige  of  it  has 
departed.  I  am  not  now  thinking  of  its  connection  with 
the  Peace  question,  but  with  that  of  moral  reform.  Once, 
in  my  childhood's  simplicity,  I  regarded  the  army  and  its 
discipline  as  a  school  for  gentlemanly  manners,  but  now 
it  seems  a  sink  of  iniquity,  a  school  of  vice." 

With  the  month  of  September  came  the  time  of  our 
departure  for  Lac-qui-parle.  But  Mary  had  not  yet  seen 
the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony.  And  so  we  harnessed  up  a 
horse  and  cart,  and  had  a  pleasant  ride  across  the  prairie 
to  the  government  saw-mill,  which,  with  a  small  dwelling 
for  the  soldier  occupant,  was  then  the  only  sign  of  civili 
zation  on  the  present  site  of  Minneapolis.  Then  we  had 
our  household  goods  packed  up  and  put  on  board  Mr. 
Prescott's  Mackinaw  boat,  to  be  carried  up  to  Traverse 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  47 

des  Sioux.  Mr.  Prescott  was  a  white  man  with  a  Dakota 
wife,  and  had  been  for  years  engaged  in  the  fur  trade. 
He  had  on  board  his  winter  outfit.  Mary  and  I  took 
passage  with  him  and  his  family,  and  spent  a  week  of 
new  life  on  what  was  then  called  the  Saint  Peter's  River. 
The  days  were  very  enjoyable,  and  the  nights  were  quite 
comfortable,  for  we  had  all  the  advantages  of  Mr.  Pres- 
cott's  tent  and  conveniences  for  camp  life.  His  propel 
ling  force  was  the  muscles  of  five  Frenchmen,  who  worked 
the  oars  and  the  poles,  sometimes  paddling  and  sometimes 
pushing,  and  often,  in  the  upper  part  of  the  voyage, 
wading  to  find  the  best  channel  over  a  sand-bar.  But 
they  enjoyed  their  work,  and  sang  songs  by  the  way. 


"Sept.  2,  1837. 

"Dr.  Williamson  arrived  at  Lake  Harriet  after  a  six 
days'  journey  from  home,  and  assured  us  of  their  kindest 
wishes,  and  their  willingness  to  furnish  us  with  corn  and 
potatoes,  and  a  room  in  their  house.  We  have  just  break 
fasted  on  board  our  Mackinaw,  and  so  far  on  our  way 
have  had  cause  for  thankfulness  that  God  so  overruled 
events,  even  though  some  attendant  circumstances  were 
unpleasant.  It  is  also  a  great  source  of  comfort  that  we 
have  so  good  accommodations  and  Sabbath-keeping  com 
pany.  You  recollect  my  mentioning  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Prescott,  and  of  his  uniting  with  the  church  at 
Lake  Harriet,  in  the  summer. 

"  Perhaps  you  may  feel  some  curiosity  respecting  our 
appearance  and  that  of  our  barge.  Fancy  a  large  boat 
of  forty  feet  in  length,  and  perhaps  eight  in  width  in  the 
middle,  capable  of  carrying  five  tons,  and  manned  by  five 
men,  four  at  the  oars  and  a  steersman  at  the  stern.  Near 


48  MARY    AND   I. 

the  centre  are  our  sleeping  accommodations  nicely  rolled 
up,  on  which  we  sit,  and  breakfast  and  dine  on  bread, 
cold  ham,  wild  fowl,  etc.  We  have  tea  and  coffee  for 
breakfast  and  supper.  Mrs.  Prescott  does  not  pitch  and 
strike  the  tent,  as  the  Indian  women  usually  do  ;  but  it  is 
because  the  boatmen  can  do  it,  and  her  husband  does  not 
require  as  much  of  her  as  an  Indian  man.  They  accom 
modate  us  in  their  tent,  which  is  similar  to  a  soldier's 
tent,  just  large  enough  for  two  beds.  Here  we  take  our 
supper,  sitting  on  or  by  the  matting  made  by  some  of 
these  western  Indians,  and  then,  after  worship,  lie  down 
to  rest." 

"  Monday,  Sept.  4. 

"  Again  we  are  on  our  way  up  the  crooked  Saint  Peter's, 
having  passed  the  Sabbath  in  our  tent  in  the  wilderness, 
far  more  pleasantly  than  the  Sabbath  we  spent  in  St. 
Louis.  Last  Saturday  I  became  quite  fatigued  sympa 
thizing  with  those  who  drew  the  boat  on  the  Rapids,  and 
with  following  my  Indian  guide,  Mrs.  Prescott,  through 
the  woods,  to  take  the  boat  above  them.  The  fall  at 
this  stage  of  water  was,  I  should  think,  two  feet,  and 
nearly  perpendicular,  excepting  a  very  narrow  channel, 
where  it  was  slanting.  The  boat  being  lightened,  all  the 
men  attempted  to  force  it  up  this  channel,  some  by  the 
rope  attached  to  the  boat,  and  others  by  pulling  and 
pushing  it  as  they  stood  by  it  on  the  rocks  and  in  the 
water.  Both  the  first  and  second  attempts  were  fruitless. 
The  second  time  the  rope  was  lengthened  and  slipped 
round  a  tree  on  the  high  bank,  where  the  trader's  wife 
and  I  were  standing.  Her  husband  called  her  to  hold 
the  end  of  the  rope,  and,  as  I  could  not  stand  idle, 
though  I  knew  I  could  do  no  good,  I  joined  her, 
watching  the  slowly  ascending  boat  with  the  deepest 


FORTY   YEAES    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  49 

interest.  A  moment  more  and  the  toil  would  have  been 
over,  when  the  rope  snapped,  and  the  boat  slid  back  in  a 
twinkling.  It  was  further  lightened  and  the  rope  doub 
led,  and  then  it  was  drawn  safely  up  and  re-packed,  in 
about  two  hours  and  a  half  from  the  time  we  reached  the 
Rapids." 

"  Tuesday,  Sept.  5. 

"  In  good  health  and  spirits,  we  are  again  on  our  way. 
As  the  river  is  shallow  and  the  bottom  hard,  poles  have 
been  substituted  for  oars  ;  boards  placed  along  the  boat's 
sides  serve  for  a  footpath  for  the  boatmen,  who  propel  the 
boat  by  fixing  the  pole  into  the  earth  at  the  prow  and 
pushing  until  they  reach  the  stern. 

"  At  Traverse  des  Sioux  our  land  journey,  of  one  hun 
dred  and  twenty-five  miles  to  Lac-qui-parle,  commenced. 
Here  we  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  somewhat  remark 
able  French  trader,  by  name  Louis  Provencalle,  but 
commonly  called  Le  Bland.  The  Indians  called  him 
Skadan,  Little  White.  He  was  an  old  voyager,  who 
could  neither  read  nor  write,  but,  by  a  certain  force  of 
character,  he  had  risen  to  the  honorable  position  of  trader. 
He  kept  his  accounts  with  his  Indian  debtors  by  a  system 
of  hieroglyphics. 

"  For  the  next  week  we  were  under  the^  convoy  of  Dr. 
Thomas  S.  Williamson  and  Mr.  Gideon  H.  Pond,  who 
met  us  with  teams  from  Lac-qui-parle.  The  first  night  of 
our  camping  on  the  prairie,  Dr.  Williamson  taught  me  a 
lesson  which  I  never  forgot.  We  were  preparing  the 
tent  for  the  night,  and  I  was  disposed  to  let  the  rough 
ness  of  the  surface  remain,  and  not  even  gather  grass  for 
a  bed,  which  the  Indians  do;  on  the  ground,  as  I  said, 
that  it  was  for  only  one  night.  l  But,'  said  the  doctor, 


50  MARY    AND   I. 

1  there  will  be  a  great  many  one  nights?  And  so  I  have 
found  it.  It  is  best  to  make  the  tent  comfortable  for  one 
night." 

This  was  our  first  introduction  —  Mary's  and  mine  — 
to  the  broad  prairies  of  the  West.  At  first,  we  kept  in 
sight  of  the  woods  of  the  Minnesota,  and  our  road  lay 
among  and  through  little  groves  of  timber.  But  by  and 
by  we  emerged  into  the  broad  savannahs  —  thousands  of 
acres  of  meadow  unmowed,  and  broad  rolling  country 
covered,  at  this  time  of  year,  with  yellow  and  blue  flow 
ers.  Every  thing  was  full  of  interest  to  us,  even  the  Bad 
Swamp, — We  we  Shecha, —  which  so  bent  and  shook  under 
the  tramp  of  our  teams,  that  we  could  almost  believe  it 
would  break  through  and  let  us  into  the  earth's  centre. 
For  years  after,  this  was  the  great  fear  of  our  prairie 
travelling,  always  reminding  us  very  forcibly  of  Bun- 
yan's  description  of  the  "  Slough  of  Despond."  The 
only  accident  of  this  journey  was  the  breaking  of  the 
axle  of  one  of  Mr.  Pond's  loaded  carts.  It  was  Satur 
day  afternoon.  Mr.  Pond  and  Dr.  Williamson  remained 
to  make  a  new  one,  and  Mary  and  I  went  on  to  the 
stream  where  we  were  to  camp,  and  made  ready  for  the 
Sabbath. 

• 
"  ON  THE  BROAD  PRAIRIE  OF  '  THE  FAR  WEST.' 

"  Saturday  Eve.,  Sept.  9,  1837. 
"  My  Ever  Dear  Mother;  — 

"  Just  at  twilight  I  seat  myself  upon  the  ground  by  our 
fire,  with  the  wide  heavens  above  for  a  canopy,  to  com 
mune  with  her  whose  yearning  heart  follows  her  children 
wherever  they  roam.  This  is  the  second  day  we  have 
travelled  on  this  prairie,  having  left  Traverse  des  Sioux 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX. 


51 


late  Thursday  afternoon.  Before  leaving  that  place,  a 
little  half-Indian  girl,  daughter  of  the  trader  where  we 
stopped,  brought  me  nearly  a  dozen  of  eggs  (the  first  I 
had  seen  since  leaving  the  States),  which  afforded  us  a 
choice  morsel  for  the  next  day.  To-morrow  we  rest,  it 
being  the  Sabbath,  and  may  we  and  you  be  in  the  Spirit 
on  the  Lord's  day." 

"  LAC-QUI-PARLE,  Sept.  18. 

"  The  date  will  tell  you  of  our  arrival  at  this  station, 
where  we  have  found  a  home.  We  reached  this  place  on 
Wednesday  last,  having  been  thirteen  days  from  Fort 
Snelling,  a  shorter  time  than  is  usually  required  for  such 
a  journey,  the  Lord's  hand  being  over  us  to  guide  and 
prosper  us  on  our  way.  Two  Sabbaths  we  rested  from 
our  travels,  and  the  last  of  them  was  peculiarly  refresh 
ing  to  body  and  spirit.  Having  risen  and  put  our  tent  in 
order,  we  engaged  in  family  worship,  and  afterward 
partook  of  our  frugal  meal.  Then  all  was  still  in  that 
wide  wilderness,  save  at  intervals,  when  some  bird  of 
passage  told  us  of  its  flight  and  bade  our  wintry  clime 
farewell. 

"  Before  noon  we  had  a  season  of  social  worship,  lifting 
up  our  hearts  with  one  voice  in  prayer  and  praise,  and 
reading  a  portion  of  God's  Word.  It  was  indeed  pleasant 
to  think  that  God  was  present  with  us,  far  away  as  we 
were  from  any  human  being  but  ourselves.  The  day 
passed  peacefully  away,  and  night's  refreshing  slumbers 
succeeded.  The  next  morning  we  were  on  our  way  be 
fore  the  sun  began  his  race,  and  having  ridden  fifteen 
or  sixteen  miles,  according  to  our  best  calculations,  we 
stopped  for  breakfast  and  dinner  at  a  lake  where  wood 
and  water  could  both  be  obtained,  two  essentials  which 
frequently  are  not  found  together  on  the  prairie. 


52  MARY    AND    I. 

"Thus  you  will  be  able  to  imagine  us  with  our  twro 
one-ox  carts  and  a  double  wagon,  all  heavily  laden,  as  we 
have  travelled  across  the  prairie." 

Thomas  Smith  Williamson  had  been  ten  years  a  prac 
tising  physician  in  Ripley,  Ohio.  There  he  had  married 
Margaret  Poage,  of  one  of  the  first  families.  One  after 
another  their  children  had  died.  Perhaps  that  led  them 
to  think  that  God  had  a  work  for  them  to  do  elsewhere. 
At  any  rate,  after  spending  a  year  in  the  Lane  Theologi 
cal  Seminary,  the  doctor  turned  his  thoughts  toward  the 
Sioux,  for  whom  no  man  seemed  to  care.  In  the  spring 
of  1834  he  made  a  visit  up  to  Fort  Snelling.  And  in 
the  year  following,  as  has  already  been  noted,  he  came  as 
a  missionary  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  with  his  wife  and  one 
child,  accompanied  by  Miss  Sarah  Poage,  Mrs.  William 
son's  sister,  and  Mr.  Alexander  G.  Huggins  and  his  wife, 
with  twro  children. 

This  company  reached  Fort  Snelling  a  week  or  twro  in 
advance  of  Mr.  Stevens,  and  were  making  preparations 
to  build  at  Lake  Calhoun ;  but  Mr.  Stevens  claimed  the 
right  of  selection,  on  the  ground  that  he  had  been  there 
in  1829.  And  so  Dr.  Williamson  and  his  party  accepted 
the  invitation  of  Mr.  Joseph  Renville,  the  Bois  Brule 
trader  at  Lac-qui-parle,  to  go  two  hundred  miles  into  the 
interior.  All  this  was  of  the  Lord,  as  it  plainly  appeared 
in  after  years.  At  the  time  we  approached  the  mission 
at  Lac-qui-parle,  they  had  been  two  full  years  in  the  field, 
and,  under  favorable  auspices,  had  made  a  very  good 
beginning.  About  the  middle  of  September,  after  a 
pretty  good  week  of  prairie  travel,  we  were  very  glad  to 
receive  the  greetings  of  the  mission  families.  .  .  . 


FORTY   YEARS   WITH   THE    SIOUX.  53 

A  few  days  after  our  arrival,  Mary  wrote :  "  The  even 
ing  we  came,  we  were  shown  a  little  chamber,  where  we 
spread  our  bed  and  took  up  our  abode.  On  Friday,  Mr. 
Riggs  made  a  bedstead,  by  boring  holes  and  driving 
slabs  into  the  logs,  across  which  boards  are  laid.  This 
answers  the  purpose  very  well,  though  rather  uneven. 
Yesterday  was  the  Sabbath,  and  such  a  Sabbath  as  I  never 
before  enjoyed.  Although  the  day  was  cold  and  stormy, 
and  much  like  November,  twenty-five  Indians  and  part- 
bloods  assembled  at  eleven  o'clock  in  our  school-room  for 
public  worship.  Excepting  a  prayer,  all  the  exercises 
were  in  Dakota  and  French,  and  most  of  them  in  the  for 
mer  language.  Could  you  have  seen  these  Indians  kneel 
with  stillness  and  order,  during  prayer,  and  rise  and 
engage  in  singing  hymns  in  their  own  tongue,  led  by  one 
of  their  own  tribe,  I  am  sure  your  heart  would  have  been 
touched.  The  hymns  were  composed  by  Mr.  Renville 
the  trader,  who  is  probably  three-fourths  Sioux." 

Doctor  Williamson  had  erected  a  log  house  a  story  and 
a  half  high.  In  the  lower  part  was  his  own  living-room, 
and  also  a  room  with  a  large  open  fire-place,  which  then,  and 
for  several  years  afterward,  was  used  for  the  school  and 
Sabbath  assemblies.  In  the  upper  part  there  were  three 
rooms,  still  in  an  unfinished  state.  The  largest  of  these, 
ten  feet  wide  and  eighteen  feet  long,  was  appropriated 
to  our  use.  We  fixed  it  up  with  loose  boards  overhead, 
and  quilts  nailed  up  to  the  rafters,  and  improvised  a  bed 
stead,  as  we  had  been  unable  to  bring  ours  farther  than 
Fort  Snelling. 

That  room  we  made  our  home  for  five  winters.  There 
were  some  hardships  about  such  close  quarters,  but,  all  in 
all,  Mary  and  I  never  enjoyed  five  winters  better  than 


54  MARY    AND    I. 

those  spent  in  that  upper  room.  There  our  first  three 
children  were  born.  There  we  worked  in  acquiring  the 
language.  There  we  received  our  Dakota  visitors.  There 
I  wrote  and  wrote  again  my  ever  growing  dictionary. 
And  there,  with  what  help  I  could  obtain,  I  prepared  for 
the  printer  the  greater  part  of  the  New  Testament  in 
the  language  of  the  Dakotas.  It  was  a  consecrated 
room. 

Well,  we  had  set  up  our  cooking-stove  in  our  upper 
room,  but  the  furniture  was  a  hundred  and  twenty-five 
miles  away.  It  was  not  easy  for  Mary  to  cook  with  noth 
ing  to  cook  in.  But  the  good  women  of  the  mission 
came  to  her  relief  with  kettle  and  pan.  More  than  this, 
there  were  some  things  to  be  done  now  which  neither 
Mary  nor  I  had  learned  to  do.  She  was  not  an  adept  at 
making  light  bread,  and  neither  of  us  could  milk  a  cow. 
She  grew  up  in  New  England,  where  the  men  alone  did 
the  milking,  and  I  in  Ohio,  where  the  women  alone 
milked  in  those  days.  At  first  it  took  us  both  to  milk  a 
cow,  and  it  was  poorly  done.  But  Mary  succeeded  best. 
Nevertheless,  application  and  perseverance  succeeded, 
and,  although  never  boasting  of  any  special  ability  in 
that  line  of  things,  I  could  do  my  own  milking,  and  Mary 
became  very  skilful  in  bread-making,  as  well  as  in  other 
mysteries  of  housekeeping. 

The  missionary  work  began  now  to  open  before  us. 
The  village  at  Lac-qui-parle  consisted  of  about  400  per 
sons,  chiefly  of  the  Wahpaton,  or  Leaf-village  band  of 
the  Dakotas.  They  were  very  poor  and  very  proud. 
Mr.  Renville,  as  a  half-breed  and  fur-trader,  had  acquired 
an  unbounded  influence  over  many  of  them.  They  were 
willing  to  follow  his  leading.  And  so  the  young  men  of 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  55 

his  soldiers'  lodge  were  the  first,  after  his  own  family,  to 
learn  to  read.  On  the  Sabbath,  there  gathered  into  this 
lower  room  twenty  or  thirty  men  and  women,  but  mostly 
women,  to  hear  the*  Word  as  prepared  by  Dr.  William 
son  with  Mr.  Renville's  aid.  A  few  Dakota  hymns  had 
been  made,  and  were  sung  under  the  leadership  of  Mr. 
Huggins  or  young  Mr.  Joseph  Renville.  Mr.  Renville 
and  Mr.  Pond  made  the  prayers  in  Dakota.  Early  in  the 
year  1836,  a  church  had  been  organized,  which  at  this 
time  contained  seven  native  members,  chiefly  from  Mr. 
Renville's  household.  And  in  the  winter  which  followed 
our  arrival  nine  were  added,  making  a  native  church  of 
sixteen,  of  which  one  half  were  full-blood  Dakota  women, 
and  in  the  others  the  Dakota  blood  greatly  predomi 
nated. 

One  of  the  noted  things  that  took  place  in  those  au 
tumn  days  was  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Gideon  Holister 
Pond  and  Miss  Sarah  Poage.  That  was  the  first  couple 
I  married,  and  I  look  back  to  it  with  great  satisfaction. 
The  bond  has  been  long  since  sundered  by  death,  but  it 
was  a  true  covenant  entered  into  by  true  hearts,  and  re 
ceiving,  from  the  first,  the  blessing  of  the  Master.  Mr. 
Pond  made  a  great  feast,  and  "  called  the  poor,  and  the 
maimed,  and  the  halt,  and  the  blind,"  and  many  such 
Dakotas  were  there  to  be  called.  They  could  not  recom 
pense  him  by  inviting  him  again,  and  it  yet  remains  that 
"he  shall  be  recompensed  at  the  resurrection  of  the  just." 

Nov.  2. 

"Yesterday  the  marriage  referred  to  was  solemnized. 
Could  I  paint  the  assembly,  you  would  agree  with  me 
that  it  was  deeply  and  singularly  interesting.  Fancy,  for 
a  moment,  the  audience  who  were  witnesses  of  the  scene. 


56  MARY    AND   I. 

The  rest  of  our  missionary  band  sat  near  those  of  our 
number  who  were  about  to  enter  into  the  new  and  sacred 
relationship,  while  most  of  the  room  was  filled  with  our 
dark-faced  guests,  a  blanket  or  a  buffalo  robe  their  chief 
'wedding  garment,'  and  coarse  and  tawdry  beads, 
brooches,  paint,  and  feathers  their  wedding  ornaments. 
Here  and  there  sat  a  Frenchman  or  half-breed,  whose 
garb  bespoke  their  different  origin.  No  turkey  or  eagle 
feathers  adorned  the  hair,  or  parti-colored  paint  the  face, 
though  even  their  appearance  and  attire  reminded  us  of 
our  location  in  this  wilderness. 

"Mr.  Riggs  performed  the  marriage  ceremony,  and  Dr. 
Williamson  made  the  concluding  prayer,  and,  through 
Mr.  Renville,  briefly  explained  to  the  Dakotas  the  ordi 
nance  and  its  institution.  After  the  ceremony,  Mr. 
Renville  and  family  partook  with  us  of  our  frugal  meal, 
leaving  the  Indians  to  enjoy  their  feast  of  potatoes,  tur 
nips,  and  bacon,  to  which  the  poor,  the  lame,  and  the  blind 
had  been  invited.  As  they  were  not  aware  of  the  supper 
that  was  provided,  they  did  not  bring  their  dishes,  as  is 
the  Indian  custom,  so  that  they  were  scantily  furnished 
with  milk-pans,  etc.  This  deficiency  they  supplied  very 
readily  by  emptying  the  first  course,  which  was  potatoes, 
into  their  blankets,  and  passing  their  dishes  for  a  supply 
of  turnips  and  bacon. 

"  I  know  not  when  I  have  seen  a  group  so  novel  as  I 
found  on  repairing  to  the  room  where  these  poor  creatures 
were  promiscuously  seated.  On  my  left  sat  an  old  man 
nearly  blind ;  before  me,  the  woman  who  dipped  out  the 
potatoes  from  a  five-pail  boiler  sat  on  the  floor ;  and  near 
her  was  an  old  man  dividing  the  bacon,  clenching  it 
firmly  in  his  hand,  and  looking  up  occasionally  to  see  how 
many  there  were  requiring  a  share.  In  the  corner  sat  a 


FORTY    YEAES    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  57 

lame  man   eagerly  devouring  his   potatoes,  and  around 
were  scattered  women  and  children. 

"  When  the  last  ladle  was  filled  from  the  large  pot  of 
turnips,  one  by  one  they  hastily  departed,  borrowing 
dishes  to  carry  home  the  supper,  to  divide  with  the  chil 
dren  who  had  remained  in  charge  of  the  tents." 


CHAPTER  III. 

1837-1839.  —The  Language.  —Its  Growth.  —  System  of  Notation. 

—  After  Changes.  —  What  We  Had  to  Put  into  the  Language. 

—  Teaching  English  and  Teaching  Dakota.  —Mary's  Letter.  — 
Fort  Renville.  —  Translating  the  Bible.  —  The  Gospels  of  Mark 
and  John.  —  "  Good  Bird  "  Born.  —  Dakota  Names.  — The  Les 
sons  We  Learned.  —  Dakota  Washing.  —  Extracts  from  Letters. 

—  Dakota    Tents.  —  A    Marriage. — Visiting    the   Village. — 
Girls,  Boys,  and  Dogs.  —  G.  H.  Pond's  Indian  Hunt. —Three 
Families    Killed.  —  The    Village   Wail.  —  The    Power    of    a 
Name.  — Post-Office  Far  Away.  —  The  Coming  of  the  Mail. 

—  S.  W.  Pond  Comes  Up.  —  My  Visit  to  Snelling.  —  Lost  my 
Horse.  —Dr.  Williamson  Goes  to  Ohio.  —The  Spirit's  Pres 
ence.  —  Prayer.  — Mary's  Reports. 

To  learn  an  unwritten  language,  and  to  reduce  it  to  a 
form  that  can  be  seen  as  well  as  heard,  is  confessedly  a 
work  of  no  small  magnitude.  Hitherto  it  has  seemed  to 
exist  only  in  sound.  But  it  has  been,  all  through  the 
past  ages,  worked  out  and  up  by  the  forges  of  human 
hearts.  It  has  been  made  to  express  the  lightest  thoughts 
as  well  as  the  heart-throbs  of  men  and  women  and  chil 
dren  in  their  generations.  The  human  mind,  in  its  most 
untutored  state,  is  God's  creation.  It  may  not  stamp 
purity  nor  even  goodness  on  its  language,  but  it  always, 
I  think,  stamps  it  with  the  deepest  philosophy.  So  far, 
at  least,  language  is  of  divine  origin.  The  unlearned 
Dakota  may  not  be  able  to  give  any  definition  for  any 
single  word  that  he  has  been  using  all  his  life-time,  —  he 
may  say,  "  It  means  that,  and  can't  mean  any  thing  else," 

58 


FORTY   YEARS   WITH    THE    SIOUX.  59 

— yet,  all  the  while,  in  the  mental  workshop  of  the  peo 
ple,  unconsciously  and  very  slowly  it  may  be,  but  no  less 
very  surely,  these  words  of  air  are  newly  coined.  No 
angle  can  turn  up,  but  by  and  by  it  will  be  worn  off  by 
use.  No  ungrammatical  expression  can  come  in  that 
will  not  be  rejected  by  the  best  thinkers  and  speakers. 
New  words  will  be  coined  to  meet  the  mind's  wants; 
and  new  forms  of  expression,  which  at  the  first  are 
bungling  descriptions  only,  will  be  pared  down  and 
tucked  up  so  as  to  come  into  harmony  with  the  living 
language. 

But  it  was  no  part  of  our  business  to  make  the  Dakota 
language.  It  was  simply  the  missionary's  work  to  report 
it  faithfully.  The  system  of  notation  had  in  the  main 
been  settled  upon  before  Mary  and  I  joined  the  mission. 
It  was,  of  course,  to  be  phonetic,  as  nearly  as  possible. 
The  English  alphabet  was  to  be  used  as  far  as  it  could 
be.  These  were  the  principles  that  guided  and  con 
trolled  the  writing  of  Dakota.  In  their  application  it 
was  soon  found  that  only  five  pure  vowel  sounds  were 
used.  So  far  the  work  was  easy.  Then  it  was  found 
that  x  and  v  and  r  and  g  and  j  and  f  and  c,  with  their 
English  powers,  were  not  needed.  But  there  were  four 
clicks  and  two  gutturals  and  a  nasal  that  must  in  some 
way  be  expressed.  It  was  then,  even  more  than  now,  a 
matter  of  pecuniary  importance  that  the  language  to  be 
printed  should  require  as  few  new  characters  as  possi 
ble.  And  so  n  was  taken  to  represent  the  nasal ;  q 
represented  one  of-  the  clicks;  g  and  r  represented 
the  gutturals;  and  c  and  j  and  x  were  used  to  rep 
resent  ch,  zh,  and  sh.  The  other  clicks  were  rep 
resented  by  marked  letters.  Since  that  time,  some 
changes  have  been  made :  x  and  r  have  been  discarded 


60  MARY    AND   I. 

from  the  purely  Dakota  alphabet.  In  the  Dakota  gram 
mar  and  dictionary,  which  was  published  fifteen  years 
afterward,  an  effort  was  made  to  make  the  notation  phil 
osophical,  and  accordant  with  itself.  The  changes  which 
have  since  been  adopted  have  all  been  in  the  line  of  the 
dictionary. 

When  we  missionaries  had  gathered  and  expressed  and 
arranged  the  words  of  this  language,  what  had  we  to  put 
into  it,  and  what  great  gifts  had  we  for  the  Dakota  peo 
ple?  What  will  you  give  me?  has  always  been  their 
cry.  We  brought  to  them  the  Word  of  Life,  the  Gospel 
of  Salvation  through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  as 
contained  in  the  Bible.  Not  to  preach  Christ  to  them 
only,  that  they  might  have  life,  but  to  engraft  his  living 
words  into  their  living  thoughts,  so  that  they  might  grow 
into  his  spirit  more  and  more,  was  the  object  of  our 
coming.  The  labor  of  writing  the  language  was  under 
taken  as  a  means  to  a  greater  end.  To  put  God's 
thoughts  into  their  speech,  and  to  teach  them  to  read 
in  their  own  tongue  the  wonderful  works  of  God,  was 
what  brought  us  to  the  land  of  the  Dakotas.  But  they 
could  not  appreciate  this.  Ever  and  anon  came  the 
question,  What  will  you  give  me?  And  so,  when  we 
would  proclaim  the  "  old,  old  story "  to  those  proud 
Dakota  men  at  Lac-qui-parle,  we  had  to  begin  with 
kettles  of  boiled  pumpkins,  turnips,  and  potatoes.  The 
bread  that  perisheth  could  be  appreciated  —  the  Bread 
of  Life  was  still  beyond  their  comprehension.  But  by 
and  by  it  was  to  find  its  proper  nesting-place. 

It  was  very  fortunate  for  the  work  of  education  among 
the  Dakotas  that  it  had  such  a  stanch  and  influential 
friend  as  Joseph  Renville,  Sr.,  of  Lac-qui-parle.  It  was 
never  certainly  known  whether  Mr.  Renville  could  read 


FORTY   YEARS   WITH    THE    SIOUX.  61 

his  French  Bible  or  not.  But  he  had  seen  so  much  of 
the  advantages  of  education  among  the  white  people, 
that  he  greatly  desired  his  own  children  should  learn  to 
read  and  write,  both  in  Dakota  and  English,  and  through 
his  whole  life  gave  his  influence  in  favor  of  Dakota  edu 
cation.  Sarah  Poage,  afterward  Mrs.  G.  H.  Pond,  had 
come  as  a  teacher,  and  had,  from  their  first  arrival  at 
Lac-qui-parle,  been  so  employed.  Mr.  Renville  had  four 
daughters,  all  of  them  young  women,  who  had,  with  some 
other  half-breeds,  made  an  English  class.  They  had 
learned  to  -read  the  language,  but  understood  very  little 
of  it,  and  were  not  willing  to  speak  even  what  they 
understood.  All  through  these  years  the  teaching  of 
English,  commenced  at  the  beginning  of  our  mission 
work,  although  found  to  be  very  difficult  and  not  pro 
ducing  much  apparent  fruit,  has  never  been  abandoned. 
But  for  the  purposes  of  civilization,  and  especially  of 
Christianization,  we  have  found  culture  in  the  native 
tongue  indispensable. 

To  teach  the  classes  in  English  was  in  Mary's  line  of 
life.  She  at  once  relieved  Miss  Poage  of  this  part  of  her 
work,  and  continued  in  it,  with  some  intervals,  for  several 
years.  Often  she  was  greatly  tried,  not  by  the  inability 
of  her  Dakota  young  lady  scholars,  but  by  their  unwill 
ingness  to  make  such  efforts  as  to  gain  the  mastery  of 
English. 

Teaching  in  Dakota  was  a  different  thing.  It  was  their 
own  language.  The  lessons,  printed  with  open  type  and 
a  brush  on  old  newspapers,  and  hung  round  the  walls  of 
the  school-room,  were  words  that  had  a  meaning  even  to 
.1  Dakota  child.  It  was  not  difficult.  A  young  man  has 
sometimes  come  in,  proud  and  unwilling  to  be  taught, 
but,  by  sitting  there  and  looking  and  listening  to  others, 


02  MARY   AND   I. 

he  has  started  up  with  the  announcement,  "  I  am  able." 
Some  small  books  had  already  been  printed.  Others 
were  afterward  provided.  But  the  work  of  works,  which 
in  some  sense  took  precedence  of  all  others,  was  then 
commencing,  and  has  not  yet  been  quite  completed  — 
that  of  putting  the  Bible  into  the  language  of  the 
Dakotas.* 

"  Nov.  18,  1837. 

"  I  make  very  slow  progress  in  learning  Dakota,  and 
could  you  hear  the  odd  combinations  of  it  with  English 
which  we  allow  ourselves,  you  would  doubtless  be  some 
what  amused,  if  not  puzzled  to  guess  our  meaning,  though 
our  speech  would  betray  us,  for  the  little  Dakota  we  can 
use  we  can  not  speak  like  the  Indians.  The  peculiar  tone 
and  ease  are  wanting,  and  several  sounds  I  have  been 
entirely  unable  to  make ;  so  that,  in  my  case  at  least, 
there  would  be  '  shibboleths '  not  a  few.  And  these 
cause  the  Dakota  pupils  to  laugh  very  frequently  when 
I  am  trying  to  explain,  or  lead  them  to  understand  some 
of  the  most  simple  things  about  arithmetic.  Perhaps 
you  will  think  them  impolite,  and  so  should  I  if  they  had 
been  educated  in  a  civilized  land,  but  now  I  am  willing 
to  bear  with  them,  if  I  can  teach  them  any  thing  in  the 
hour  which  is  allotted  for  this  purpose. 

"  As  yet  I  have  devoted  no  time  to  any  except  those 
who  are  attempting  to  learn  English,  and  my  class  will 
probably  consist  of  five  girls  and  two  or  three  boys. 
Two  of  the  boys,  who,  we  hope,  will  learn  English,  are 
full  Dakotas,  and,  if  their  hearts  were  renewed,  might  be 
very  useful  as  preachers  of  the  Gospel  to  their  own 
degraded  people." 

*  Completed  in  1879. 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  63 

Fort  Renville,  as  it  was  sometimes  called,  was  a 
stockade,  made  for  defence  in  case  of  an  invasion  by 
the  O  jib  was,  who  had  been  from  time  immemorial  at 
war  with  the  Sioux.  Inside  of  this  stockade  stood  Mr. 
Renviile's  hewed-log  house,  consisting  of  a  store-house 
and  two  dwellings.  Mr.  Renville's  reception-room  was 
of  good  size,  with  a  large  open  fireplace,  in  which  his 
Frenchmen,  or  "  French-boys,"  as  they  were  called  by 
the  Indians,  piled  up  an  enormous  quantity  of  wood  of  a 
cold  day,  setting  it  up  on  end,  and  thus  making  a  fire  to 
be  felt  as  well  as  seen.  Here  the  chief  Indian  men  of 
the  village  gathered  to  smoke  and  talk.  A  bench  ran 
almost  around  the  entire  room,  on  which  they  sat  or 
reclined.  Mr.  Renville  usually  sat  on  a  chair  in  the 
middle  of  the  room.  He  was  a  small  man  with  rather 
a  long  face  and  head  developed  upward.  A  favorite 
position  of  his  was  to  sit  with  his  feet  crossed  under  him 
like  a  tailor.  This  room  was  the  place  of  Bible  trans 
lating.  Dr.  Williamson  and  Mr.  G.  H.  Pond  had  both 
learned  to  read  French.  The  former  usually  talked  with 
Mr.  Renville  in  French,  and,  in  the  work  of  translating, 
read  from  the  French  Bible,  verse  by  verse.  Mr.  Ren 
ville's  memory  had  been  specially  cultivated  by  having 
been  much  employed  as  interpreter  between  the  Dakotas 
and  the  French.  It  seldom  happened  that  he  needed  to 
have  the  verse  re-read  to  him.  But  it  often  happened 
that  we,  who  wrote  the  Dakota  from  his  lips,  needed  to 
have  it  repeated  in  order  that  we  should  get  it  exactly 
and  fully.  When  the  verse  or  sentence  was  finished,  the 
Dakota  was  read  by  one  of  the  company.  We  were  all 
only  beginners  in  writing  the  Dakota  language,  and  I 
more  than  the  others.  Sometimes  Mr.  Renville  showed, 
by  the  twinkle  of  his  eye,  his  conscious  superiority  to  us, 


64  MARY    AND    I. 

when  he  repeated  a  long  and  difficult  sentence  and  found 
that  we  had  forgotten  the  beginning.  But  ordinarily 
he  was  patient  with  us,  and  ready  to  repeat.  By  this 
process,  continued  from  week  to  week  during  that  first 
winter  of  ours  at  Lac-qui-parle,  a  pretty  good  translation 
of  the  Gospel  of  Mark  was  completed,  besides  some  fugi 
tive  chapters  from  other  parts.  In  the  two  following  win 
ters  the  Gospel  of  John  was  translated  in  the  same  way. 

Besides  giving  these  portions  of  the  Word  of  God  to 
the  Dakotas  sooner  than  it  could  have  been  done  by  the 
missionaries  alone,  these  translations  were  invaluable  to 
us  as  a  means  of  studying  the  structure  of  the  language, 
and  as  determining,  in  advance  of  our  own  efforts  in  this 
line,  the  forms  or  moulds  of  many  new  ideas  which  the 
Word  contains.  In  after  years  we  always  felt  safe  in 
referring  to  Mr.  Renville  as  authority  in  regard  to  the 
form  of  a  Dakota  expression. 

During  this  first  year  that  Mary  and  I  spent  in  the 
Dakota  country,  there  were  coming  to  us  continually  new 
experiences.  One  of  the  most  common,  and  yet  one  of 
the  most  thrilling  and  abiding,  was  in  the  birth  of  our 
first-born.  In  motherhood  and  fatherhopd  are  found 
large  lessons  in  life.  The  mother  called  her  first-born 
child  Alfred  Longley,  naming  him  for  a  very  dear  brother 
of  hers.  The  Dakotas  named  this  baby  boy  of  ours  Good 
Bird  (Zitkadan  Washtay).  They  said  that  it  was  a  good 
name.  In  those  days  it  was  a  habit  with  them  to  give 
names  to  the  white  people  who  came  among  them.  Dr. 
Williamson  they  called  Payjehoota  Wechasta  —  Medicine 
man,  or,  more  literally,  Grass-root  man  —  that  is,  Doctor. 
To  Mr.  G.  H.  Pond  they  gave  the  name  Matohota, 
Grizzly-bear.  Mr.  S.  W.  Pond  was  Wamdedoota^  Red- 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  65 

eagle.  To  me  they  gave  the  name  of  Tamakoche,  His 
country.  They  said  some  good  Dakota  long  ago  had 
borne  that  name.  To  Mary  they  gave  the  name  of  Pa- 
yuha.  At  first  they  gutturalized  the  h,  which  made  it 
mean  Curly-head —  her  black  hair  did  curl  a  good  deal ; 
but  afterward  they  naturalized  the  h,  and  said  it  meant 
Hamng-a-head. 

The  winter  as  it  passed  by  had  other  lessons  for  us. 
For  me  it  was  quite  a  chore  to  cut  and  carry  up  wood 
enough  to  keep  our  somewhat  open  upper  room  cosey  and 
comfortable.  Mary  had  more  ambition  than  I  had  to  get 
native  help.  She  had  not  been  accustomed  to  do  a  day's 
washing.  It  came  hard  to  her.  The  other  women  of  the 
mission  preferred  to  wash  for  themselves  rather  than 
train  natives  to  do  it.  And  indeed,  at  the  beginning, 
that  was  found  to  be  no  easy  task.  For,  in  the  first  place, 
Dakota  women  did  not  wash.  Usually  they  put  on  a 
garment  and  wore  it  until  it  rotted  off.  This  was  pretty 
much  the  rule.  No  good,  decent  woman  could  be  found 
willing  to  do  for  white  people  what  they  did  not  do  for 
themselves.  We  could  hire  all  the  first  women  of  the 
village  to  hoe  corn  or  dig  potatoes,  but  not  one  would 
take  hold  of  the  wash-tub.  And  so  it  was  that  Mary's 
first  washer-women  were  of  the  lowest  class,  and  not  very 
reputable  characters.  But  she  persevered  and  conquered. 
Only  a  few  years  had  passed  when  the  wash-women  of 
the  mission  were  of  the  best  women  of  the  village.  And 
the  effort  proved  a  great  public  benefaction.  The  gos 
pel  of  soap  was  indeed  a  necessary  adjunct  and  out 
growth  of  the  Gospel  of  Salvation. 

u  Dec.  13. 

"  My  first  use  of  the  pen  since  the  peculiar  manifesta 
tion  of  God's  loving  kindness  we  have  so  recently 


66  MARY    AND    I. 

experienced  shall  be  for  you,  my  dear  parents.  That 
you  will  with  us  bless  the  Lord,  as  did  the  Psalmist  in 
one  of  my  favorite  Psalms,  the  103d,  we  do  not  doubt ; 
for  I  am  sure  you  will  regard  my  being  able  so  soon  to 
write  as  a  proof  of  God's  tender  mercy.  I  have  been 
very  comfortable  most  of  the  time  during  the  past  week. 
As  our  little  one  cries,  and  I  am  now  his  chief  nurse,  I 
must  lay  aside  my  pen  and  paper  and  attend  to  his 
wants,  for  Mr.  Riggs  is  absent,  procuring,  with  Dr.  W. 
and  Mr.  Pond,  the  translation  of  Mark,  from  Mr.  Ren- 
ville." 

''Dec.  28. 

"  Yesterday  our  dear  little  babe  was  three  wreeks  old. 
I  washed  with  as  little  fatigue  as  I  could  expect ;  still,  I 
should  have  thought  it  right  to  have  employed  some  one, 
was  there  any  one  to  be  employed  who  could  be  trusted. 
But  the  Dakota  women,  besides  not  knowing  how  to 
wash,  need  constant  and  vigilant  watching.  Poor  crea 
tures,  thieves  from  habit,  and  from  a  kind  of  necessity, 
though  one  of  their  own  creating !  " 

"  Jan.  10. 

"  The  Dakota  tent  is  formed  of  buffalo  skins,  stretched 
on  long  poles  placed  on  the  ground  in  a  circle,  and 
meeting  at  the  top,  where  a  hole  is  left  from  which  the 
smoke  of  the  fire  in  the  centre  issues.  Others  are  made 
of  bark  tied  to  the  poles  placed  in  a  similar  manner.  A 
small  place  is  left  for  a  door  of  skin  stretched  on  sticks 
and  hinged  with  strings  at  the  top,  so  that  the  person 
entering  raises  it  from  the  bottom  and  crawls  in.  At 
this  season  of  the  year  the  door  is  protected  by  a  covered 
passage  formed  by  stakes  driven  into  the  ground  several 
feet  apart,  and  thatched  with  grass.  Here  they  keep 
their  wood,  which  the  women  cut  this  cold  weather,  the 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  67 

thermometer  at  eighteen  to  twenty  degrees  below  zero. 
And  should  you  lift  the  little  door,  you  would  find  a  cold, 
smoky  lodge  about  twelve  feet  in  diameter,  a  mother  and 
her  child,  a  blanket  or  two,  or  a  skin,  a  kettle,  and  pos 
sibly  in  some  of  them  a  sack  of  corn." 

"  Thursday  Eve.,  Jan.  11. 

"Quite  unexpectedly,  this  afternoon  we  received  an 
invitation  to  a  wedding  at  Mr.  Renville's,  one  of  his 
daughters  marrying  a  Frenchman.  We  gladly  availed 
ourselves  of  an  ox-sled,  the  only  vehicle  we  could  com 
mand,  and  a  little  before  three  o'clock  we  were  in  the 
guest-chamber.  Mr.  Renville,  who  is  part  Dakota,  re 
ceived  us  with  French  politeness,  and  soon  after  the  rest 
of  the  family  entered.  These,  with  several  Dakota  men 
and  women  seated  on  benches,  or  on  the  floor  around  the 
room,  formed  not  an  uninteresting  group.  The  marriage 
ceremony  was  in  French  and  Dakota,  and  was  soon  over. 
Then  the  bridegroom  rose,  shook  hands  with  his  wife's 
relations,  and  kissed  her  mother,  and  the  bride  also  kissed 
all  her  father's  family. 

"  When  supper  was  announced  as  ready,  we  repaired 
to  a  table  amply  supplied  with  beef  and  mutton,  potatoes, 
bread,  and  tea.  Though  some  of  them  were  not  prepared 
as  they  would  have  been  in  the  States,  they  did  not 
seem  so  singular  as  a  dish  that  I  was  unable  to  determine 
what  it  could  be,  until  an  additional  supply  of  blood  was 
offered  me.  I  do  not  know  how  it  was  cooked,  though 
it  might  have  been  fried  with  pepper  and  onions,  and  I 
am  told  it  is  esteemed  as  very  good.  The  poor  Indians 
throw  nothing  away,  whether  of  beast  or  bird,  but 
consider  both  inside  and  outside  delicious  broiled  on  the 
coals." 


68  MARY   AND   I. 

"April  5. 

"Yesterday  afternoon  Mrs.  Pond  and  myself  walked 
to  *  the  lodges.'  As  the  St.  Peter's  now  covers  a  large 
part  of  the  bottom,  we  wound  our  way  in  the  narrow 
Indian  path  on  the  side  of  the  hill.  An  Indian  woman, 
with  her  babe  fastened  upon  its  board  at  her  back, 
walked  before  us,  and  as  the  grass  on  each  side  of  the 
foot-path  made  it  uncomfortable  walking  side  by  side, 
we  conformed  to  Dakota  custom,  one  following  the  other. 
For  a  few  moments  we  kept  pace  with  our  guide,  but  she, 
soon  outstripping  us,  turned  a  corner  and  was  out  of 
sight.  As  we  wished  for  a  view  of  the  lake  and  river, 
we  climbed  the  hill.  There  we  saw  the  St.  Peter's,  which 
in  the  summer  is  a  narrow  and  shallow  stream,  extending 
over  miles  of  land,  with  here  and  there  a  higher  spot 
peeping  out  as  an  island  in  the  midst  of  the  sea.  The 
haze  prevented  our  having  a  good  view  of  the  lake. 

"  After  counting  thirty  lodges  stretched  along  below 
us,  we  descended  and  entered  one,  where  we  found  a  sick 
woman,  who  said  she  had  not  sat  up  for  a  long  time, 
lying  on  a  little  bundle  of  hay.  Another  lodge  we  found 
full  of  corn,  the  owners  having  subsisted  on  deer  and 
other  game  while  absent  during  the  winter. 

"  When  we  had  called  at  Mr.  Renville's,  which  was  a 
little  beyond,  we  returned  through  the  heart  of  the  vil 
lage,  attended  by  such  a  retinue  as  I  have  never  before 
seen,  and  such  strange  intermingling  of  laughing  and 
shouting  of  children  and  barking  of  dogs  as  I  never 
heard.  Amazed,  and  almost  deafened  by  the  clamor,  I 
turned  to  gaze  upon  the  unique  group.  Some  of  the 
older  girls  were  close  upon  our  heels,  but  as  we  stopped 
they  also  halted,  and  those  behind  slackened  their  pace. 
Boys  and  girls  of  from  four  to  twelve  years  of  age,  some 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  69 

wrapped  in  their  blankets,  more  without,  and  quite  a 
number  of  boys  almost  or  entirely  destitute  of  clothing, 
with  a  large  number  of  dogs  of  various  sizes  and  colors, 
presented  themselves  in  an  irregular  line.  As  all  of  the 
Indians  here  have  pitched  their  lodges  together,  I  sup 
pose  there  might  have  been  thirty  or  forty  children  in 
our  train.  When  we  reached  home,  I  found  little  Alfred 
happy  and  quiet,  in  the  same  place  on  the  bed  I  had  left 
him  more  than  two  hours  previous,  his  father  having  been 
busy  studying  Dakota. 

"  This  evening  two  Indian  women  came  and  sat  a  little 
while  in  our  happy  home.  One  of  them  had  a  babe 
about  the  age  of  Alfred.  You  would  have  smiled  to  see 
the  plump,  undressed  child  peeping  out  from  its  warm 
blanket  like  a  little  unfledged  bird  from  its  mossy  nest." 

Mr.  Pond  had  long  been  yearning  to  see  inside  of  an 
Indian.  He  had  been  wanting  to  be  an  Indian,  if  only 
for  half  an  hour,  that  he  might  know  how  an  Indian  felt 
and  by  what  motives  he  could  be  moved.  And  so  when 
the  early  spring  of  1838  came,  and  the  ducks  began  to 
come  northward,  a  half-dozen  families  started  out  from 
Lac-qui-parle  to  hunt  and  trap  on  the  upper  part  of  the 
Chippewa  River,  in  the  neighborhood  of  where  is  now 
the  town  of  Benson,  in  Minnesota.  Mr.  Pond  went  with 
them,  and  was  gone  two  weeks.  It  was  in  the  first  of 
April,  and  the  streams  were  flooded,  and  the  water  was 
cold.  There  should  have  been  enough  of  game  easily 
obtained  to  feed  the  party  well.  So  the  Indians  thought. 
But  it  did  not  prove  so.  A  cold  spell  came  on,  the  ducks 
disappeared,  and  Mr.  Pond  and  his  Indian  hunters  were 
reduced  to  scanty  fare,  and  sometimes  to  nothing,  for  a 
whole  day.  But  Mr.  Pond  was  seeing  inside  of  Indians, 


70  MARY    AND    I. 

and  was  quite  willing  to  starve  a  good  deal  in  the  pro 
cess.  However,  his  stay  with  them,  and  their  hunt  for 
that  time  as  well,  was  suddenly  terminated. 

It  appears  that  during  the  winter  some  rumors  of  peace 
visits  from  the  Ojibwas  had  reached  the  Dakotas,  so  that 
this  hunting  party  were  somewhat  prepared  to  meet 
Ojibwas  who  should  come  with  this  announced  purpose. 
The  half-dozen  teepees  had  divided.  Mr.  Pond  was  with 
Round  Wind,  who  had  removed  from  the  three  teepees 
that  remained.  On  Thursday  evening  there  came  Hole- 
in-the-day,  an  Ojibwa  chief,  with  ten  men.  They  had 
come  to  smoke  the  peace-pipe,  they  said.  The  three 
Dakota  tents  contained  but  three  men  and  ten  or  eleven 
women  and  children.  But,  while  starving  themselves, 
they  would  entertain  their  visitors  in  the  most  royal  style. 
Two  dogs  were  killed  and  they  were  feasted,  and  then  all 
lay  down  to  rest.  But  the  Ojibwas  were  false.  They 
arose  at  midnight  and  killed  their  Dakota  hosts.  In  the 
morning  but  one  woman  and  a  boy  remained  alive  of  the 
fourteen  in  the  three  teepees  the  night  before,  and  the 
boy  was  badly  wounded.  It  was  a  cowardly  act  of  the 
Ojibwas,  and  one  that  was  terribly  avenged  afterward. 
When  Mr.  Pond  had  helped  to  bury  the  dead  and  man 
gled  remains  of  these  three  families,  he  started  for  home, 
and  was  the  first  to  bring  the  sad  news  to  their  friends 
at  Lac-qui-parle.  To  him  quite  an  experience  was  bound 
up  in  those  two  weeks,  and  the  marvel  was,  why  he  was 
not  then  among  the  slain.  To  Mary  and  me  it  opened  a 
whole  store-house  of  instruction,  as  we  listened  to  the 
wail  of  the  whole  village,  and  especially  when  the  old 
women  came  with  dishevelled  heads  and  ragged  clothes, 
and  cried  and  sang  around  our  house,  and  begged  in  the 
name  of  our  first-born.  We  discovered  all  at  once  the 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  71 

power  of  a  name.  And  if  an  earthly  name  has  such 
power,  much  more  the  Name  that  is  above  every  name  — 
much  more  the  Name  of  the  Only  Begotten  of  the  heav 
enly  Father. 

Lac-qui-parle  was  in  those  days  much  shut  out  from 
the  great  world.  We  were  two  hundred  miles  away 
from  our  post-office  at  Fort  Snelling.  We  seldom  re 
ceived  a  letter  from  Massachusetts  or  Ohio  in  less  than 
three  months  after  it  was  written.  Often  it  was  much 
longer,  for  there  were  several  times  during  our  stay  at 
Lac-qui-parle  when  we  passed  three  months,  and  once 
five  months,  without  a  mail.  We  used  to  pray  that  the 
mail  would  not  come  in  the  evening.  If  it  did,  good- 
by  sleep !  If  it  came  in  the  early  part  of  the  day,  we 
could  look  it  over  and  become  quieted  by  night.  Our 
communication  with  the  post-office  was  generally  through 
the  men  engaged  in  the  fur-trade.  Some  of  them  had  no 
sympathy  with  us  as  missionaries,  but  they  were  ever  will 
ing  to  do  us  a  favor  as  men  and  Americans.  Sometimes 
we  sent  and  received  our  mail  by  Indians.  That  was  a 
very  costly  way.  The  postage  charged  by  the  govern 
ment  —  although  it  was  then  twenty-five  cents  on  a  letter 
—  was  no  compensation  for  a  Dakota  in  those  days.  It 
is  fortunate  for  them  that  they  have  learned  better  the 
value  of  work. 

Once  a  year,  at  least,  it  seemed  best  that  one  of  our 
selves  should  go  down  to  the  mouth  of  the  Minnesota. 
Our  annual  supplies  were  to  be  brought  up,  and  various 
matters  of  business  transacted.  I  was  sent  down  in  the 
spring  of  1838,  and  I  considered  myself  fortunate  in 
having  the  company  of  Rev.  S.  W.  Pond.  This  was  Mr. 
Pond's  second  visit  to  Lac-qui-parle  on  foot.  The  first 


72  MARY    AND    I. 

was  made  over  two  years  before,  in  midwinter.  That 
was  a  fearful  journey.  What  with  ignorance  of  the 
country,  and  deep  snows,  and  starvation,  and  an  ugly 
Indian  for  his  guide,  Mr.  Pond  came  near  reaching  the 
spirit  land  before  he  came  to  Lac-qui-parle. 

This  second  time  he  came  under  better  auspices,  and, 
having  spent  several  weeks  with  us,  during  which  many 
questions  of  interest  with  regard  to  the  language  and  the 
mission  work  were  discussed,  he  and  I  made  a  part  of 
Mr.  Renville's  caravan  to  the  fur  depot  of  the  American 
Fur  Company  at  Mendota,  in  charge  of  H.  H.  Sibley,  a 
manly  man,  since  that  time  occupying  a  prominent  posi 
tion  in  Minnesota. 

To  make  this  trip  I  was  furnished  by  the  mission  with 
a  valuable  young  horse,  gentle  and  kind,  but  not  pos 
sessed  of  much  endurance.  At  any  rate,  he  took  sick 
while  I  was  away,  and  never  reached  home.  The  result 
may  have  been  owing  a  good  deal  to  my  want  of  skill  in 
taking  care  of  horses,  and  in  travelling  through  the  bogs 
and  quagmires  of  this  new  country.  I  could  not  but  be 
profoundly  sorry  when  obliged  to  leave  him,  as  it  entailed 
upon  me  other  hardships  for  which  I  was  not  well  pre 
pared.  Reaching  the  Traverse  des  Sioux  on  foot,  I  found 
Joseph  R.  Brown,  even  then  an  old  Indian  trader,  coming 
up  with  some  led  horses.  He  kindly  gave  me  the  use  of 
two  with  which  to  bring  up  my  loaded  cart.  That  was  a 
really  Good  Samaritan  work,  which  I  have  always  re 
membered  with  gratitude. 

When  the  first  snows  were  beginning  to  fall  in  the 
coming  winter,  and  not  till  then,  Dr.  Williamson  was 
ready  to  make  his  trip  to  Ohio.  The  Gospel  of  Mark 
and  some  smaller  portions  of  the  Bible  he  had  prepared 
for  the  press.  The  journey  was  undertaken  a  few  weeks 


FORTY   YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  73 

too  late,  and  so  it  proved  a  very  hard  one.  They  thought 
to  go  down  the  Mississippi  in  a  Mackinaw  boat,  but  were 
frozen  in  before  they  reached  Lake  Pepin.  From  that 
point  the  entire  journey  to  Ohio  was  made  by  land  in  the 
rigors  of  winter. 

The  leaving  of  Dr.  Williamson  entailed  upon  me  the 
responsibility  of  taking  care  of  the  Sabbath  service.  Mr. 
G.  H.  Pond  was  not  then  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  but 
his  superior  knowledge  of  the  Dakota  fitted  him  the  best 
to  communicate  religious  instruction.  But  it  was  well 
for  me  to  have  the  responsibility,  as  it  helped  me  in 
the  use  of  the  native  tongue.  I  was  often  conscious 
of  making  mistakes,  and  doubtless  made  many  that 
I  knew  not  of.  Mr.  Pond  and  Mr.  Renville  were 
ever  ready  to  help  me  out,  and,  moreover,  we  had 
with  us  that  winter  Rev.  Daniel  Gavan,  one  of  the 
Swiss  missionaries,  who  had  settled  on  the  Mississippi 
River,  at  Red  Wing  and  Wabashaw's  villages.  Mr. 
G.  came  up  to  avail  himself  of  the  better  advantages 
in  learning  the  language,  and  so  for  the  winter  he  was 
a  valuable  helper. 

It  pleased  God  to  make  this  winter  one  of  fruitfulness. 
Mr.  Renville  was  active  in  persuading  those  under  his 
influence  to  attend  the  religious  meetings,  the  school 
room  was  crowded  on  Sabbaths,  and  the  Word,  imper 
fectly  as  it  was  spoken,  was  used  by  the  Spirit  upon 
those  dark  minds.  There  was  evidently  a  quickening  of 
the  church.  They  were  interested  in  prayer.  What  is 
prayer  ?  —  and  how  shall  we  pray  ?  became  questions  of 
interest  with  them.  One  woman  who  had  received  at 
her  baptism  the  name  of  Catherine,  and  who  still  lives  a 
believing  life  at  the  end  of  forty  years,  was  then  troubled 
to  know  how  prayer  could  reach  God.  I  told  her  in  this 


74  MARY    AND   I. 

we  were  all  little  children.  God  recognized  our  condi 
tion  in  this  respect,  and  had  told  us  that,  as  earthly 
fathers  and  mothers  were  willing,  and  desirous  of  giving 
good  gifts  to  their  children,  he  was  more  willing  to  give 
the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him.  Besides,  he  made 
the  ear,  and  shall  he  not  hear?  He  made,  in  a  large 
sense,  all  language,  and  shall  he  not  be  able  to  under 
stand  Dakota  words?  The  very  word  for  "pray  "  in  the 
Dakota  language  was  "  to  cry  to  "  —  chakiya.  Prayer 
was  now,  as  through  all  ages  it  had  been,  the  child's  cry 
in  the  ear  of  the  Great  Father.  So  there  appeared  to  be 
a  working  upward  of  many  hearts.  Early  in  February 
Mr.  Pond,  Mr.  Renville,  and  Mr.  Huggins,  Mr.  Gavan  and 
myself,  after  due  examination  and  instruction,  agreed  to 
receive  ten  Dakotas  into  the  church  —  all  women.  I  bap 
tized  them  and  their  children  —  twenty-eight  in  all  —  on 
one  Sabbath  morning.  It  was  to  us  a  day  of  cheer.  To 
these  Dakota  Gentiles  also  God  had  indeed  opened  the 
door  of  faith.  Blessed  be  his  name  for  ever  and  ever. 

"  Dec.  6,  1838. 

"  This  is  our  little  Alfred's  natal  day.  He  of  course 
has  received  no  birthday  sugar  or  earthen  toys,  and  his 
only  gift  of  such  a  kind  has  been  a  very  small  bow  and 
arrow,  from  an  Indian  man,  who  is  a  frequent  visitor. 
The  bow  is  about  three-eighths  of  a  yard  long  and  quite 
neatly  made,  but  Alfred  uses  it  as  he  would  any  other 
little  stick.  I  do  not  feel  desirous  that  he  should  prize  a 
bow  or  a  gun  as  do  these  sons  of  the  prairie.  My  prayer 
is  that  he  may  early  become  a  lamb  of  the  Good  Shep 
herd's  fold,  that  while  he  lives  he  may  be  kept  from  the 
fierce  wolf  and  hungry  lion,  and  at  length  be  taken  home 
to  the  green  pastures  and  still  waters  above." 


FOBTY    TEAKS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  75 

"  Feb.  9,  1839. 

"  We  mentioned  in  our  last  encouraging  prospects  here. 
The  forenoon  schools,  which  are  for  misses  and  children, 
have  some  days  been  crowded  during  the  few  past  weeks, 
and  a  Sabbath-school  recently  opened  has  been  so  well 
attended  as  to  encourage  our  hopes  of  blessed  results. 
Last  Lord's  day  we  had  a  larger  assembly  than  have  ever 
before  met  for  divine  worship  in  this  heathen  land.  More 
than  eighty  were  present." 

As  Mr.  Gavan  was  a  native  Frenchman  and  a  scholar, 
we  expected  much  from  his  presence  with  us,  during  the 
winter,  in  the  way  of  obtaining  translations.  He  and 
Mr.  Renville  could  communicate  fully  and  freely  through 
that  language,  and  we  believed  he  would  be  able  to  ex 
plain  such  words  as  were  not  well  understood  by  the 
other.  And  so  we  commenced  the  translation  of  the 
Gospel  of  John  from  the  French.  But  it  soon  became 
apparent  that  the  perfection  of  knowledge,  of  which  they 
both  supposed  themselves  possessed,  was  a  great  bar  to 
progress.  And  by  the  time  we  had  reached  the  end  of 
the  seventh  chapter,  the  relations  of  the  two  Frenchmen 
were  such  as  to  entirely  stop  our  work.  We  were  quite 
disappointed.  But  this  event  induced  us  the  sooner  to 
o-ird  ourselves  for  the  work  of  translating  the  Bible  from 
the  original  tongues,  and  so  was,  in  the  end,  a  blessing. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

1838-1840.  —  "  Eagle  Help."  — His  Power  as  War  Prophet  — 
Makes  No-Flight  Dance.  —  We  Pray  Against  It.  —  Unsuccess 
ful  on  the  War-Path.  —  Their  Revenge.  —  Jean  Nicollet  and 
J.  C.  Fremont.  —  Opposition  to  Schools.  —  Progress  in  Teach 
ing.  —  Method  of  Counting.  —  "  Lake  That  Speaks."  —  Our 
Trip  to  Fort  Snelling.  —  Incidents  of  the  Way.  —  The  Changes 
There.  —  Our  Return  Journey.  —  Birch-Bark  Canoe.  —  Mary's 
Story.  —  "Le  Grand  Canoe." — Baby  Born  on  the  Way. — 
Walking  Ten  Miles.  —  Advantages  of  Travel.  —  My  Visit  to 
the  Missouri  River.  —  "  Fort  Pierre."  —Results. 

"EAGLE  HELP"  was  a  good  specimen  of  a  war  prophet 
and  war  leader  among  the  Dakotas.  At  the  time  of  the 
commencement  of  the  mission,  he  was  a  man  of  family 
and  in  middle  age,  but  he  was  the  first  man  to  learn  to 
read  and  write  his  language.  And  from  the  very  first, 
no  one  had  clearer  apprehensions  of  the  advantages  of 
that  attainment.  He  soon  became  one  of  the  best  helps 
in  studying  the  Dakota,  and  the  best  critical  helper  in 
translations.  He  wanted  good  pay  for  a  service,  but  lie 
was  ever  ready  to  do  it,  and  always  reliable.  When  my 
horse  failed  me,  on  the  trip  up  from  Fort  Snelling,  and  I 
had  walked  fifty  miles,  Eagle  Help  was  ready,  for  a  con 
sideration  (my  waterproof  coat),  to  go  on  foot  and  bring 
up  the  baggage  I  had  left.  And  in  the  early  spring  of 
1839,  when  Mr.  Pond  would  remove  his  family  —  wife 
and  child  —  to  join  his  brother  in  the  work  near  Fort 
Snelling,  Eagle  Help  was  the  man  to  pilot  his  canoe 
down  the  Minnesota. 

76 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  77 

But,  notwithstanding  his  readiness  to  learn  and  to 
impart,  to  receive  help  and  give  help  —  notwithstand 
ing  his  knowledge  of  the  "  new  way,"  of  which  his  wife 
was  a  follower,  and  his  near  relations  to  us  in  our  mis 
sionary  work,  he  did  not,  at  once,  abandon  his  Dakota 
customs,  one  of  which  was  going  on  the  war-path. 

As  a  war  prophet,  he  claimed  to  be  able  to  get  into 
communication  with  the  spirit  world,  and  thus  to  be 
made  a  seer.  After  fasting  and  praying  and  dancing  the 
circle  dance,  a  vision  of  the  enemies  he  sought  to  kill 
would  come  to  him.  He  was  made  to  see,  in  this  trance 
or  dream,  whichever  it  might  be,  the  whole  panorama, 
the  river  or  lake,  the  prairie  or  wood,  and  the  Ojibwas  in 
canoes  or  on  the  land,  and  the  spirit  in  the  vision  said  to 
him,  "Up,  Eagle  Help,  and  kill."  This  vision  and  proph 
ecy  had  heretofore  never  failed,  he  said. 

And  so,  when  he  came  back  from  escorting  Mr.  Gavan 
and  Mr.  Pond  to  the  Mississippi  River,  he  determined  to 
get  up  a  war  party.  He  made  his  "  yoomne  wachepe  " 
(circle  dance),  in  which  the  whole  village  participated  — 
he  dreamed  his  dream,  he  saw  his  vision,  and  was  confi 
dent  of  a  successful  campaign.  About  a  score  of  young 
men  painted  themselves  for  the  war;  they  fasted  and 
feasted  and  drilled  by  dancing  the  no-flight  dance,  and 
made  their  hearts  firm  by  hearing  the  brave  deeds  of 
older  warriors,  who  were  now  hors  de  combat  by  age. 

In  the  meantime,  the  thought  that  our  good  friend 
Eagle  Help  should  lead  out  a  war  party  to  kill  and  man 
gle  Ojibwa  women  and  children  greatly  troubled  us.  We 
argued  and  entreated,  but  our  words  were  not  heeded. 
Among  other  things,  we  said  we  would  pray  that  the  war 
party  might  not  be  successful.  That  was  too  much  of  a 
menace.  Added  to  this,  they  came  and  asked  MI*.  Hug- 


78  MAEY    AND   I. 

gins  to  grind  corn  for  them  on  our  little  ox-power  mill, 
which  he  refused  to  do.  They  were  greatly  enraged, 
and,  just  before  they  started  out,  they  killed  and  ate  two 
of  the  mission  cows.  After  a  rather  long  and  difficult 
tramp  they  returned  without  having  seen  an  Ojibwa. 
Their  failure  they  attributed  entirely  to  our  prayers,  and 
so,  as  they  returned  ashamed,  they  took  off  the  edge  of 
their  disgrace  by  killing  another  of  our  unoffending  ani 
mals. 

After  this,  it  was  some  months  before  Eagle  Help 
would  again  be  our  friend  and  helper.  In  the  meantime, 
Dr.  Williamson  and  his  family  returned  from  Ohio, 
bringing  with  them  Miss  Fanny  Huggins,  to  be  a  teacher 
in  the  place  of  Mrs.  Pond.  Miss  Huggins  afterward 
became  Mrs.  Jonas  Pettijohn,  and  both  she  and  her  hus 
band  were  for  many  years  valuable  helpers  in  the  mission 
work.  Also  this  summer  brought  to  Lnc-qui-parle  such 
distinguished  scientific  gentlemen  as  M.  Jean  Nicollet 
and  J.  C.  Fremont.  M.  Nicollet  took  an  interest  in  our 
war  difficulty,  and  of  his  own  motion  made  arrangements 
in  behalf  of  the  Indians  to  pay  for  the  mission  cattle 
destroyed.  And  so  that  glory  and  that  shame  were  alike 
forgotten.  In  after  years  Eagle  Help  affirmed  that  his 
power  of  communicating  with  the  spirit  world  as  a  war 
prophet  was  destroyed  by  his  knowledge  of  letters  and 
the  religion  of  the  Bible.  Shall  we  accept  that  as  true  ? 
And,  if  so,  what  shall  we  say  of  modern  spiritism  ?  Is  it 
in  accord  with  living  a  true  Christian  life? 

Thus  events  succeeded  each  other  rapidly.  But  Mary 
and  I  and  the  baby  boy,  "  Good  Bird,"  lived  still  in  the 
"  upper  chamber,"  and  were  not  ashamed  to  invite  the 
French  savant,  Jean  Nicollet,  to  come  and  take  tea 
with  us. 


FOKTY    YEAKS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  79 

During  these  first  years  of  missionary  work  at  Lac-qui- 
parle,  the  school  was  well  attended.  It  was  only  once  in 
a  while  that  the  voice  of  opposition  was  raised  against 
the  children.  Occasionally  some  one  would  come  up 
from  below  and  tell  about  the  fight  that  was  going  on 
there  against  the  Treaty  appropriation  for  Education. 

The  missionaries  down  there  were  charged  with  want 
ing  to  get  hold  of  the  Indians'  money  ;  and  so  the  pro 
vision  for  education  made  by  the  treaty  of  1837  effectu 
ally  blocked  all  efforts  at  teaching  among  those  lower 
Sioux.  What  should  have  been  a  help  became  a  great 
hindrance.  Indians  and  traders  joined  to  oppose  the  use 
of  that  fund  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  intended, 
and  finally  the  government  yielded  and  turned  over  the 
accumulated  money  to  be  distributed  among  themselves. 
The  Wahpatons  of  Lac-qui-parle  had  no  interest  in  that 
treaty ;  and  had  yet  made  no  treaty  with  the  government 
and  had  not  a  red  cent  of  money  anywhere  that  mission 
aries  could,  by  any  hook  or  crook,  lay  hold  of.  Neverthe 
less  it  was  easy  to  get  up  a  fear  and  belief ;  for  was  it 
possible  that  white  men  and  women  would  come  here 
and  teach  year  after  year,  and  not  expect,  in  some  way 
and  at  some  time,  to  get  money  out  of  them  ?  If  they 
ever  made  a  treaty,  and  sold  land  to  the  government, 
would  not  the  missionaries  bring  in  large  bills  against 
them  ?  It  was  easy  to  work  up  this  matter  in  their  own 
minds,  and  make  it  all  seem  true,  and  the  result  was 
the  soldiers  were  ordered  to  stop  the  children  from 
coming  to  school.  There  were  some  such  moods  as  this, 
and  our  school  had  a  vacation.  But  the  absurdity  ap 
peared  pretty  soon,  and  the  children  were  easily  induced 
to  come  back. 

Mr,  and  Mrs.  Pond  were  now  gone.     For   the  next 


80  MARY    AND    I. 

winter,  Mary  and  Miss  Fanny  Huggins  took  care  of  the 
girls  and  younger  boys,  and  Mr.  Huggins,  with  such 
assistance  as  I  could  give,  took  care  of  the  boys  and 
young  men.  The  women  also  undertook,  under  the 
instruction  of  Mrs.  Huggins  and  Miss  Fanny,  to  spin  and 
knit  and  weave.  Mr.  Renville  had  already  among  his 
flock  some  sheep.  The  wool  was  here  and  the  flax  was 
soon  grown.  Spinning-wheels  and  knitting-needles  were 
brought  on,  and  Mr.  Huggins  manufactured  a  loom. 
They  knit  socks  and  stockings,  and  wove  skirts  and 
blankets,  while  the  little  girls  learned  to  sew  patchwrork 
and  make  quilts.  All  this  was  of  advantage  as 
education. 

My  own  special  effort  in  the  class-room  during  the  first 
years  was  in  teaching  a  knowledge  of  figures.  The  lan 
guage  of  counting  in  Dakota  was  limited.  The  "  wan- 
cha,  nonpa,  yamne  "  —  one,  two,  three,  up  to  ten,  —  every 
child  learned,  as  he  bent  down  his  fingers  and  thumbs 
until  all  were  gathered  into  two  bunches,  and  then  let 
them  loose  as  geese  flying  away.  Eleven  was  ten  more 
one,  and  so  on.  Twenty  was  ten  twos  or  twice  ten,  and 
thirty  ten  threes.  With  each  ten  the  fingers  were  all 
bent  down,  and  one  was  kept  down  to  remember  the  ten. 
Thus,  when  ten  tens  were  reached,  the  whole  of  the  two 
hands  was  bent  down,  each  finger  meaning  ten.  This 
was  the  perfected  "  bending  down."  It  was  "  opawinge  " 
—  one  hundred.  Then,  when  the  hands  were  both  bent 
down  for  hundreds,  the  climax  was  supposed  to  be 
reached,  which  could  only  be  expressed  by  "  again  also 
bending  dowrn."  When  something  larger  than  this  was 
reached,  it  was  a  great  count  —  something  which  they 
nor  we  can  comprehend  —  a  million. 

On  the  other  side  of  one  the  Dakota  language  is  still 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  81 

more  defective.  Only  one  word  of  any  definiteness 
exists  —  hankay,  half.  We  can  say  hankay-hankay  —  the 
half  of  a  half.  But  it  does  not  seem  to  have  been  much 
used.  Beyond  this  there  was  nothing.  A  piece  is  a  word 
of  uncertain  quantity,  and  is  not  quite  suited  to  intro 
duce  among  the  certainties  of  mathematics.  Thus,  the 
poverty  of  the  language  has  been  a  great  obstacle  in 
teaching  arithmetic.  And  that  poorness  of  language 
shows  their  poverty  of  thought  in  the  same  line.  The 
Dakotas  are  not,  as  a  general  thing,  at  all  clever  in 
arithmetic. 

Before  the  snows  had  disappeared  or  the  ducks  come 
back  to  this  northern  land,  in  the  spring  of  1840,  a  baby 
girl  had  been  added  to  the  little  family  in  the  upper 
chamber.  By  the  first  of  June,  Mary  was  feeling  well, 
and  exceedingly  anxious  to  make  a  trip  across  the  prairie. 
She  had  been  cooped  up  here  now  nearly  three  years. 
There  was  nowhere  to  go.  Lac-qui-parle  is  the  "  Lake 
that  speaks,"  but  who  could  be  found  around  it  ?  And 
no  one  had  any  knowledge  of  any  great  Indian  talk 
held  there  that  might  have  justified  the  name.  But  the 
romance  was  all  taken  out  of  the  French  name  by  the 
criticism  of  Eagle  Help,  that  the  Dakota  name,  "  Mda- 
eyaydan,"  did  not  mean  "  Lake  that  talks,"  but  "  Lake 
that  connects."  And  so  Lac-qui-parle  had  no  historic 
interest.  It  was  not  a  good  place  to  go  on  a  picnic. 
She  had  been  to  the  Indian  village  frequently,  but  that 
was  not  a  place  to  visit  for  pleasure.  And  on  the  broad 
prairie  there  was  no  objective  point.  Where  could  she 
go  for  a  pleasure  trip,  but  to  Fort  Snelling  ? 

And  so  we  made  arrangements  for  the  journey.  The 
little  boy  "  Good  Bird  "  was  left  behind,  and  the  baby 


82  MARY    AND    I. 

Isabella  had  to  go  along,  of  course.  We  were  with  Mr. 
Renville's  annual  caravan  going  to  the  fur-trader's 
Mecca. 

The  prairie  journey  was  pleasant  and  enjoyable,  though 
somewhat  fatiguing.  We  had  our  own  team  and  could 
easily  keep  in  company  with  the  long  line  of  wooden 
carts,  carrying  buffalo  robes  and  other  furs.  It  was, 
indeed,  rather  romantic.  But  when  we  reached  the 
Traverse  des  Sioux,  we  were  at  our  wit's  end  how  to 
proceed  further.  That  was  the  terminus  of  the  wagon- 
road.  It  was  then  regarded  as  absolutely  impossible  to 
take  any  wheeled  vehicle  through  by  land  to  Fort 
Snelling.  Several  years  after  this  we  began  to  do  it, 
but  it  was  very  difficult.  Then  it  was  not  to  be  tried. 
Mr.  Sibley's  fur  boat,  it  was  expected,  would  have  been 
at  the  Traverse,  but  it  was  not.  And  a  large  canoe 
which  was  kept  there  had  gotten  loose  and  floated  away. 
Only  a  little  crazy  canoe,  carrying  two  persons,  was 
found  to  cross  the  stream  with.  Nothing  remained  but 
to  abandon  the  journey  or  to  try  it  on  horseback.  And 
for  that  not  a  saddle  of  any  kind  could  be  obtained. 
But  Mary  was  a  plucky  little  woman.  She  did  not 
mean  to  use  the  word  "  fail  "  if  she  could  help  it.  And 
so  we  tied  our  buffalo  robe  and  blanket  on  one  of  the 
horses,  and  she  mounted  upon  it,  with  a  rope  for  a 
stirrup.  Many  a  young  woman  would  have  been  at 
home  there,  but  Mary  had  not  grown  up  on  horseback. 
And  so  at  the  end  of  a  dozen  miles,  when  we  came  to 
the  river  where  Le  Sueur  now  is,  she  was  very  glad  to 
learn  that  the  large  canoe  had  been  found.  In  that  she 
and  baby  Isabella  took  passage  with  Mr.  Renville's  girls 
and  an  Indian  woman  or  two  to  steer  and  paddle.  The 
rest  of  the  company  went  on  by  land,  managing  to  meet 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  Od 

the  boat  at  night  and  camp  together.  This  we  did  for 
the  next  four  nights.  It  was  a  hard  journey  for  Mary. 
The  current  was  not  swift.  The  canoe  was  heavy  and 
required  hard  paddling  to  make  it  move  onward.  The 
Dakota  young  women  did  not  care  to  work,  and  their 
helm's-woman  was  not  in  a  condition  to  do  it.  On  the 
fourth  day  out  they  ran  ashore  somewhat  hurriedly  and 
put  up  their  tent,  where  the  woman  pilot  gave  birth  to 
a  baby  girl.  They  named  it  "  By-the-way."  One  day 
they  came  in  very  hungry  to  an  Indian  village.  The 
Dakota  young  women  were  called  to  a  tent  to  eat  sugar. 
Then  Mary  thought  they  might  have  called  "  the  white 
woman "  also,  but  they  did  not.  She  did  not  consider 
that  they  were  relatives. 

By  and  by  the  mouth  of  the  Minnesota  was  reached, 
through  hardship  and  endurance.  But  then  it  was  to  be 
"  a  pleasure  trip,"  and  this  was  the  way  in  which  the 
pleasure  came. 

Since  we  had  last  seen  him,  S.  W.  Pond  had  married 
Miss  Cordelia  Eggleston,  a  sister  of  Mrs.  J.  D.  Stevens. 
The  station  at  Lake  Harriet  had  been  abandoned,  the 
Indians  having  left  Lake  Calhoun  first.  Mr.  Stevens 
had  gone  down  to  Wabashaw's  village,  and  the  Pond 
brothers,  with  their  families,  were  occupying  what  was 
called  the  "  Stone  House,"  within  a  mile  of  the  Fort. 
Mary  found  an  old  school  friend  in  the  garrison,  and  so 
the  two  weeks  spent  in  this  neighborhood  were  pleasant 
and  profitable. 

We  now  addressed  ourselves  to  the  return  journey. 
The  fur  boat  had  gone  up  and  come  down  again.  We 
were  advised  to  try  a  birch-bark  canoe,  and  hire  a  couple 
of  French  voyagers  to  row  it.  In  the  first  part  of  the 
river  we  went  along  nicely.  But  after  a  while  we  began 


84  MARY   AND   I. 

to  meet  with  accidents.  The  strong  arms  of  the  paddlers 
would  ever  and  anon  push  the  canoe  square  on  a  snag. 
The  next  thing  to  be  done  was  to  haul  ashore  and  mend 
the  boat.  By  and  by  our  mending  material  was  all  used 
up.  It  was  Saturday  morning,  and  we  could  reach 
Traverse  that  day  if  we  met  with  no  mishap.  But  we 
did  meet  with  a  mishap.  Suddenly  we  struck  a  snag 
which  tore  such  a  hole  in  our  bark  craft  that  it  was  with 
difficulty  we  got  ashore.  By  land,  it  was  eight  or  ten 
miles  to  the  Traverse.  The  Frenchmen  were  sent  on  for 
a  cart  to  bring  up  the  baggage.  But  rather  than  wait 
for  them,  Mary  and  I  elected  to  walk  and  carry  baby 
Bella.  To  an  Indian  woman  that  would  have  been  a 
mere  trifle  —  not  worth  speaking  of.  But  to  me  it 
meant  work.  I  had  no  strap  to  tie  her  on  my  back,  and 
the  little  darling  seemed  to  get  heavier  every  mile  we 
went.  But,  then,  Mary  had  undertaken  the  trip  for 
pleasure,  and  so  we  must  not  fail  to  find  in  it  all  the 
pleasure  we  could.  And  we  did  it.  Altogether,  that 
trip  to  Fort  Snelling  was  a  thing  to  be  remembered  and 
not  regretted. 


"  FORT  SNELLING,  June  19,  1840. 

"  We  left  Lac-qui-parle  June  1,  and  reached  Le  Bland 's 
the  Saturday  following,  having  enjoyed  as  pleasant  a 
journey  across  the  prairie  as  we  could  expect  or  hope. 
We  had  expected  to  find  at  that  place  a  barge,  but  we 
could  not  even  procure  an  Indian  canoe.  With  no  other 
alternative,  we  mounted  our  horses  on  Monday,  with  no 
other  saddles  than  our  baggage.  Mine  was  a  buffalo  robe 
and  blanket  fastened  with  a  trunk  strap.  My  spirits  sank 
within  me  as  I  gave  our  little  Isabella  to  an  Indian  woman 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  85 

to  carry  perched  up  in  a  blanket  behind,  and  clung  to  my 
horse's  mane  as  we  ascended  and  descended  the  steep 
hills,  and  thought  a  journey  of  seventy  miles  by  land  was 
before  us. 

"  I  rode  thus  nearly  ten  miles,  and  then  walked  a  short 
distance  to  rest  myself,  to  the  place  where  our  company 
took  lunch.  There,  to  our  great  joy,  a  Frenchman  ex 
claimed,  "  Le  grand  canoe,  le  grand  canoe !  "  and  we  found 
that  the  Indian  who  had  been  commissioned  to  search 
had  found  and  brought  it  down  the  river  thus  far.  I 
gladly  exchanged  my  seat  on  the  horse  for  one  in  the 
canoe,  with  two  Indian  women  and  Mr.  Renville's  daugh 
ters.  Our  progress  was  quite  comfortable,  though  slow, 
as  some  of  our  party  were  invited  to  Indian  lodges  to 
feast  occasionally,  while  the  rest  of  us  were  sunning  by 
the  river's  bank. 

"On  the  fourth  day  we  had  an  addition  to  our  party. 
The  woman  at  the  helm  said  she  was  sick —  and  we  went 
on  shore  perhaps  three-quarters  of  an  hour  on  account  of 
the  rain,  and  when  it  ceased,  she  was  ready  with  her 
infant  to  step  into  the  canoe  and  continue  rowing, 
although  she  did  not  resume  her  seat  in  the  stern 
until  the  next  morning.  This  is  a  specimen  of  Indian 
life. 

"  We  have  found  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Turner  in  the  garrison 
here ;  she  was  formerly  Mary  Stuart  of  Mackinaw. 

"  TRAVERSE  DES  Sioux,  July  4. 

"The  canoe  (birch-bark)  which  we  praised  so  highly 
failed  us  about  eight  miles  below  this  place,  in  conse 
quence  of  not  having  a  supply  of  gum  to  mend  a  large 
rent  made  by  a  snag  early  this  morning.  Not  thinking  it 
was  quite  so  far,  I  chose  to  try  walking,  husband  carrying 


86  MAKY    AND   I. 

Isabella,  the  Frenchmen  having  hastened  on  to  find  our 
horses  to  bring  up  the  baggage.  We  reached  the  river 
and  found  there  was  no  boat  here  with  which  to  cross. 
Mr.  Riggs  waded  with  Isabella,  the  water  being  about 
two  and  a  half  feet  deep,  and  an  Indian  woman  came  to 
carry  me  over,  when  our  horses  were  brought  up.  Hus 
band  mounted  without  any  saddle,  and  I,  quivering  like 
an  aspen,  seated  myself  behind,  clinging  so  tightly  that 
I  feared  I  should  pull  us  both  off.  I  do  not  think  it  was 
fear,  at  least  not  entirely,  for  I  am  still  exceedingly 
fatigued  and  dizzy,  but  I  have  reason  to  be  grateful  that 
I  did  not  fall  into  the  river  from  faintness,  as  husband 
thought  I  was  in  danger  of  doing.  Isabella's  face  is 
nearly  blistered,  and  mine  almost  as  brown  as  an  Ind 
ian's." 

"  LAC-QUI-PARLE  MISSION,  July  27,  1840. 
"  We  are  once  more  in  the  quiet  enjoyment  of  home, 
and  are  somewhat  rested  from  the  fatigue  of  our  journey. 
The  repetition  of  that  parental  injunction,  '  Mary,  do  be 
careful  of  your  health,'  recalled  your  watchful  care  most 
forcibly.  How  often  have  I  heard  these  words,  and  per 
haps  too  often  have  regarded  them  less  strictly  than  an 
anxious  mother  deemed  necessary  for  my  highest  welfare. 
And  even  now,  were  it  not  that  the  experience  of  a  few 
years  may  correct  my  notions  about  health,  I  should  be 
so  unfashionable  as  to  affirm  that  necessary  exposures, 
such  as  sleeping  on  the  prairie  in  a  tent  drenched  with 
rain,  and  walking  some  two  or  three  miles  in  the  dewy 
grass,  where  the  water  would  gush  forth  from  our  shoes 
at  every  step,  and  then  continuing  our  walk  until  they 
were  more  than  comfortably  dry,  as  we  did  on  the  morn 
ing  our  canoe  failed  us,  are  not  as  injurious  to  the  health 
as  the  unnecessary  exposures  of  fashionable  life," 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  87 

The  Sioux  on  the  Mississippi  and  Minnesota  Rivers 
were  known  to  be  but  a  small  fraction  of  the  Dakota 
people.  We  at  Lac-qui-parle  had  frequent  intercourse 
with  the  Sissetons  of  Lake  Traverse.  Sometimes,  too, 
we  had  visits  from  the  Yanktonais,  who  followed  the 
buffalo  on  the  great  prairies  this  side  of  the  Missouri 
River.  But  more  than  half  of  the  Sioux  nation  were 
said  to  be  Teetons,  who  lived  beyond  the  Big  Muddy. 
So  it  seemed  very  desirable  that  we  extend  our  acquaint 
ance  among  them. 

About  the  first  of  September,  Mr.  Huggins  and  I,  hav 
ing  prepared  ourselves  with  a  small  outfit,  started  for  the 
Missouri.  We  had  one  pony  for  the  saddle,  and  one 
horse  and  cart  to  carry  the  baggage.  At  first  we  joined 
a  party  of  wild  Sioux  from  the  Two  Woods,  whose  leader 
was  "  Thunder  Face."  He  was  a  great  scamp,  but  had 
promised  to  furnish  us  with  guides  to  the  Missouri,  after 
we  had  reached  the  Coteau.  The  party  were  going  out 
to  hunt  buffalo,  and  moved  by  short  days'  marches.  In 
a  week  we  had  only  made  fifty  miles.  After  some  vexa 
tious  delays  and  some  coaxing  and  buying,  we  succeeded 
in  getting  started  ahead  with  two  young  men,  the  princi 
pal  one  being  "Sacred  Cow."  The  first  day  brought  us 
into  the  region  of  buffalo,  one  of  which  Sacred  Cow 
killed.  This  came  near  spoiling  our  journey.  The  young 
men  now  wanted  to  turn  about  and  join  the  hunt.  An 
additional  bargain  had  to  be  made.  In  about  two  weeks 
from  Lac-qui-parle  we  reached  the  Missouri,  striking  it 
near  Fort  Pierre.  To  this  trading  fort  we  crossed,  and 
there  spent  a  good  part  of  a  week.  Forty  or  fifty 
teepees  of  Teetons  were  encamped  there.  They  treated 
us  kindly  (inviting  us  to  a  dog  feast  on  one  occasion),  as 
did  also  the  white  people  and  half-breeds  of  the  post. 


88  MAKY    AND    I. 

We  gathered  a  good  deal  of  information  in  regard  to  the 
western  bands  of  the  Sioux  nation ;  we  communicated  to 
them  something  of  the  object  of  our  missionary  work, 
and  of  the  good  news  of  salvation,  and  then  returned 
home  pretty  nearly  by  the  way  we  went.  We  had  been 
gone  a  month.  The  result  of  our  visit  was  the  conclusion 
that  we  could  not  do  much,  or  attempt  much,  for  the 
civilization  and  Christianization  of  those  roving  bands  of 
Dakotas. 


CHAPTER  V. 

1840-1843.  —  Dakota  Braves.  —  Simon  Anawangmane.  —  Mary's 
Letter.  —  Simon's  Fall.  —  Maple  Sugar.  —  Adobe  Church.  — 
Catharine's  Letter.  —  Another  Letter  of  Mary's.  —  Left  Hand's 
Case. —  The  Fifth  Winter. —Mary  to  Her  Brother. —  The 
Children's  Morning  Ride. — Visit  to  Hawley  and  Ohio. — 
Dakota  Printing.  —  New  Recruits.  —  Return.  —  Little  Rapids. 
—  Traverse  des  Sioux.  —  Stealing  Bread.  —  Forming  a  New 
Station.  —  Begging.  —  Opposition.  —  Thomas  L.  Longley.  — 
Meeting  Ojibwas.  —  Two  Sioux  Killed.  — Mary's  Hard  Walk. 

AMONG  the  encouraging  events  of  1840  and  1841  was 
the  conversion  of  Simon  Anawangmane.  He  was  the 
first  full-blood  Dakota  man  to  come  out  on  the  side  of 
the  new  religion.  Mr.  Renville  and  his  sons  had  joined 
the  church,  but  the  rest  were  women.  It  came  to  be  a 
taunt  that  the  men  used  when  we  talked  with  them  and 
asked  them  to  receive  the  gospel,  "  Your  church  is  made 
up  of  women  "  ;  and,  "  If  you  had  gotten  us  in  first,  it 
would  have  amounted  to  something,  but  now  there  are 
only  women.  Who  would  follow  after  women  ?  "  Thus 
the  proud  Dakota  braves  turned  away. 

But  God's  truth  has  sharp  arrows  in  it,  and  the  Holy 
Spirit  knows  how  to  use  them  in  piercing  even  Dakota 
hearts. 

Anaicangmane  (walks  galloping  on)  was  at  this  time 
not  far  from  thirty  years  old.  He  was  not  a  bright  schol 
ar  —  rather  dull  and  slow  in  learning  to  read.  But  he 

89 


90  MARY    AND   I. 

had  a  very  strong  will-power  and  did  not  know  what  fear 
was.  He  had  been  a  very  dare-devil  on  the  war-path. 
The  Dakotas  had  a  curious  custom  of  being  under  law  and 
above  law.  It  was  always  competent  for  a  Dakota  sol 
dier  to  punish  another  man  for  a  misdemeanor,  if  the 
other  man  did  not  rank  above  him  in  savage  prowess.  As 
for  example :  If  a  Dakota  man  had  braved  an  Ojibwa 
with  a  loaded  gun  pointed  at  him,  and  had  gone  up  and 
killed  him,  he  ranked  above  all  men  who  had  not  done  a 
like  brave  deed.  And  if  no  one  in  the  community  had 
done  such  an  act  of  bravery,  then  this  man  could  not  be 
punished  for  any  thing,  according  to  Dakota  custom. 

Under  date  of  Feb.  24,  1841,  Mary  writes :  —  "Last 
Sabbath  was  Isabella's  birthday.  She  has  been  a  healthy 
child,  for  which  we  have  cause  of  gratitude.  But  this 
was  not  our  only,  or  principal,  cause  of  joy  on  last  Sab 
bath.  Five  adults  received  the  baptismal  rite  prepara 
tory  to  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  on  next  Sab 
bath.  One  of  them  was  a  man,  the  first  in  the  nation  — 
a  full-blooded  Sioux,  that  has  desired  to  renounce  all  for 
Christ.  May  God  enable  him  to  adorn  his  profession. 
His  future  life  will  doubtless  exert  a  powerful  influence 
either  for  or  against  Christ's  cause  here.  Three  years 
since  he  was  examined  by  the  church  session,  but  then  he 
acknowledged  that  the  6th  and  7th  commandments  were 
too  broad  in  their  restrictions  for  him.  Now  he  professes 
a  desire  and  determination  to  keep  them  also.  His  wife, 
whom  he  is  willing  to  marry,  with  her  child,  and  three 
children  by  two  other  wives  he  has  had,  stood  with  him, 
and  at  the  same  time  received  the  seal  of  the  new  cove 
nant.  As  they  all  wished  English  names,  we  gave 
'  Hetta '  to  a  white,  gray-eyed  orphan  girl  who  was  bap 
tized,  on  account  of  her  grandmother," 


FORTY   YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  91 

This  young  man,  Anawangmane,  had  reached  that  en 
viable  position  of  being  above  Dakota  law.  He  had  not 
only  attained  to  the  "  first  three,"  but  he  was  the  chief. 
And  so  when  he  came  out  on  the  side  of  the  Lord  and 
Christianity,  there  was  a  propriety  in  calling  him  Simon 
when  he  was  baptized.  He  was  ordinarily  a  quiet  man 
—  a  man  of  deeds  and  not  of  words.  But  once  in  a  while 
he  would  get  roused  up,  and  his  eyes  would  flash,  and  his 
words  and  gestures  were  powerful.  Simon  immediately 
put  on  white  man's  clothes,  and  made  and  planted  a  field 
of  corn  and  potatoes  adjoining  the  mission  field.  No 
Dakota  brave  dared  to  cut  up  his  tent  or  kill  his  dog  or 
break  his  gun ;  but  this  did  not  prevent  the  boys,  and 
women  too,  from  pointing  the  finger  at  him,  and  saying, 
"There  goes  the  man  who  has  made  himself  a  woman." 
Simon  seemed  to  care  for  it  no  more  than  the  bull-dog 
does  for  the  barking  of  a  puppy.  He  apparently  brushed 
it  all  aside  as  if  it  was  only  a  straw.  So  far  as  any  sign 
from  him,  one  looking  on  would  be  tempted  to  think  that 
he  regarded  it  as  glory.  But  it  did  not  beget  pride.  He 
did  indeed  become  stronger  thereby. 

And  yet,  as  time  rolled  by,  it  was  seen,  by  the  unfold 
ing  of  the  divine  plan,  that  Simon  could  not  be  built  up 
into  the. best  and  noblest  character  without  suffering. 
Naturally4,  he  was  the  man  who  would  grow  into  self- 
sufficiency.  There  were  weak  points  in  his  character 
which  he  perhaps  knew  not  of.  It  was  several  years 
after  this  when  Simon  visited  us  at  the  Traverse,  and 
made  our  hearts  glad  by  his  presence  and  help.  But  alas ! 
he  came  there  to  stumble  and  fall!  "You  are  a  brave 
man  —  no  man  so  brave  as  you  are,"  said  the  Indians  at 
the  Traverse  to  him.  And  some  of  them  Avere  distantly 
related  to  him.  While  they  praised  and  flattered  him, 


92  MARY    AND    I. 

they  asked  him  to  drink  whiskey  with  them.  Surely  he 
was  man  enough  for  that.  How  many  times  he  refused 
Simon  never  told.  But  at  last  he  yielded,  and  then  the 
very  energy  of  his  character  carried  him  to  great  excess 
in  drinking  "  spirit  water." 

"  LAC-QUI-PARLE,  March  27,  1841. 

"  Until  this,  the  seasons  for  sugar-making  have  been 
very  unfavorable  since  we  have  resided  here.  But  this 
spring  the  Indian  women  have  been  unusually  successful, 
and  several  of  them  have  brought  us  a  little  maple  sugar, 
which,  after  melting  and  straining,  was  excellent,  and 
forcibly  reminded  us  of  home  sugar.  However,  it  does 
not  always  need  purifying,  as  some  are  much  more  cleanly 
than  others,  here  as  well  as  in  civilized  lands.  Sugar  is 
a  luxury  for  which  these  poor  women  are  willing  to  toil 
hard,  and  often  with  but  small  recompense.  Their  camps 
are  frequently  two  or  three  miles  from  their  lodges.  If 
they  move  to  the  latter,  they  must  also  pack  corn  for 
their  families ;  and  if  not,  with  kettle  in  hand  they  go  to 
their  camps,  toil  all  day,  and  often  at  night  return  with 
their  syrup  or  sugar  and  a  back  load  of  wood  for  their 
husbands'  use  the  next  day.  Thus  sugar  is  to  them  a 
hard-earned  luxury.  But  they  have  also  others,  which 
they  sometimes  offer  us,  such  as  musk-rats,  beavers'-tails, 
and  tortoises.  I  have  never  tried  musk-rats,  but  husband 
says  they  are  as  good  as  polecats  —  another  delicacy  !" 

But  I  must  leave  these  broken  threads,  and  take  up 
the  thread  of  my  story.  At  Lac-qui-parle  the  school 
room  in  Dr.  Williamson's  log  house  became  too  strait 
for  our  religious  gatherings.  We  determined  to  build  a 
church.  The  Dakota  women  volunteered  to  come  and 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  93 

dig  out,  in  the  side  of  the  hill,  the  place  where  it  should 
stand.  Building  materials  were  not  abundant  nor  easily 
obtained,  and  so  we  decided  to  build  an  adobe.  We 
made  our  bricks  and  dried  them  in  the  sun,  and  laid  them 
up  into  the  walls.  We  sawed  our  boards  with  the  whip- 
saw,  and  made  our  shingles  out  of  the  ash-trees.  We 
built  our  house  without  much  outlay  of  money.  The 
heavy  Minnesota  rains  washed  its  sides,  and  we  plastered 
one  and  clapboarded  another.  It  was  a  comfortable 
house,  and  one  in  which  much  preaching  and  teaching 
were  done ;  moreover,  when,  in  after  years,  our  better 
framed  house  was  burned  to  the  ground,  this  adobe 
church  still  stood  for  us  to  take  refuge  in.  There  we 
were  living  when  Secretary  S.  B.  Treat  visited  us  in  1854, 
and  in  one  corner  of  that  we  fenced  off  with  bed-quilts  a 
little  place  for  him  to  sleep.  In  this  adobe  house  we  first 
made  trial  of  an  instrument  in  song  worship.  Miss  Lucy 
Spooner,  afterward  Mrs.  Drake,  took  in  her  melodeon. 
But  the  Dakota  voices  fell  so  much  below  the  instrument 
that  she  gave  it  up  in  despair.  By  all  these  things  we 
remember  the  old  adobe  church  at  Lac-qui-parle.  And 
not  less  by  the  first  consecration  of  it.  That  was  a  feast 
made  by  Dr.  Williamson  for  the  men.  The  floor  was  not 
yet  laid,  but  a  hundred  Dakota  men  gathered  into  it  and 
sat  on  the  sleepers,  and  ate  their  potatoes  and  bread  and 
soup  gladly,  and  then  we  talked  to  them  about  Christ. 

Of  this  church  when  commenced,  Catherine  Totiduta- 
win  wrote :  "  Now  are  we  to  have  a  church,  and  on  that 
account  we  rejoice  greatly.  In  this  house  we  shall  pray 
to  the  Great  Spirit.  We  have  dug  ground  two  days 
already.  We  have  worked  having  the  Great  Spirit  in 
our  thoughts.  We  have  worked  praying.  When  we 
have  this  house  we  shall  be  glad.  In  it,  if  we  pray,  he 


94  MARY    AND    I. 

will  have  mercy  upon  us,  and  if  he  hears  what  we  say, 
he  will  make  us  glad.  As  yet  we  do  what  he  hates.  In 
this  house  we  will  confess  these  things  to  him  —  our 
thoughts,  our  words,  our  actions  —  these  we  will  tell  to 
him.  His  Son  will  dwell  in  this  house  and  pardon  all 
that  is  bad.  God  has  mercy  on  us  and  is  giving  us  a  holy 
house.  In  this  we  will  pray  for  the  nations." 

"  Dec.  10,  1841. 

"  The  last  two  Sabbaths  we  have  assembled  in  our  new 
chapel.  Only  one  half  is  completed,  though  husband  and 
Mr.  Pettijohn  have  been  very  diligent  and  successful. 
You  can  scarcely  imagine  what  a  task  building  is  in  a 
land  where  there  is  such  a  scarcity  of  materials  and  men. 
During  the  summer  great  exertions  were  made  to  prepare 
lumber,  and  two  men  were  employed  about  two  months 
in  sawing  it  with  a  whip-saw.  The  woods  were  searched 
and  researched  for  two  or  three  miles  for  suitable  timber, 
and  the  result  was  about  3200  feet  —  which  is  not  enough 
—  at  an  expense  of  $150.  I  might  mention  other  hin 
drances,  but,  notwithstanding  them  all,  the  Lord  has  evi 
dently  prospered  the  work,  and  our  expectations  have 
been  fully  realized,  if  our  wishes  have  not." 

Besides  Simon  Anawangmane,  two  or  three  other  young 
men  were  won  over  to  the  religion  of  Christ  before  1842. 
One  of  these  was  Paul  Mazakootaymane.  Paul  was  a 
man  of  different  stamp  from  Simon.  He  was  a  native 
orator.  But  he  was  innately  lazy.  Still,  he  has  always 
been  loyal  to  the  white  people,  and  has  done  much  good 
work  on  their  behalf. 

There  was  at  this  time  an  elderly  man  who  sought 
admission  to  the  church  at  Lac-qui-parle,  Left  Hand  by 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  95 

name.  This  man  was  Mr.  Renville's  brother-in-law.  We 
could  not  say  he  was  not  a  true  believer  —  he  seemed  to 
be  one.  But  he  had  two  wives,  and  they  both  had  been 
received  into  church  fellowship.  They  had  been  admitted 
on  the  ground,  partly,  that  it  could  not  be  decided  which, 
if  either,  was  the  lawful  wife,  and  partly  on  the  ground 
that  Dakota  women  heretofore  could  not  be  held  respon 
sible  for  polygamy.  And  now  Left  Hand  claimed  for 
himself  that  he  had  lived  with  these  women  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century,  and  had  a  family  by  each ;  that  he  had  en 
tered  into  this  relation  in  the  days  of  ignorance,  and  that 
the  Bible  recognized  the  rightfulness  of  such  relations 
under  certain  circumstances,  since  David  and  Jacob  had 
more  than  one  wife.  Mr.  Renville,  who  was  a  ruling  elder 
in  the  church,  took  this  position,  and  the  members  of  the 
mission  were  not  a  unit  against  it.  So  the  question  was 
referred  to  the  Ripley  Presbytery.  The  result  was  that 
our  native  church  was  saved  from  sanctioning  polygamy. 
We  had  the  two  wives  of  Left  Hand,  and  two  women 
also  in  another  case.  But  the  husband's  dying  has  long 
since  left  them  widows,  and  some  of  them  also  have  gone 
to  the  eternal  world.  The  loose  condition  of  the  mar 
riage  relation  is  still  that,  in  the  social  state  of  the  Dako- 
tas,  which  gives  us  the  most  trouble. 

The  fifth  winter  in  our  "  little  chamber  "  was  one  full 
of  work.  In  the  early  part  of  it,  Mary  was  still  in  the 
school.  In  the  latter  part  our  third  child  was  born.  She 
was  named  "Martha  Taylor,"  for  the  grandmother  in 
Massachusetts.  During  the  years  previous,  I  had  under 
taken  to  translate  a  good  portion  of  the  New  Testament, 
the  Acts,  and  Paul's  Epistles,  and  the  Revelation.  This 
winter  the  corrected  copy  had  to  be  made.  Of  necessity 


96  MARY    AND    I. 

I  learned  to  do  my  best  work  surrounded  by  children. 
My  study  and  workshop  was  our  sitting-room,  and  din 
ing-room,  and  kitchen,  and  nursery,  and  ladies'  parlor.  It 
was  often  half  filled  with  Indians.  Besides  my  own  trans 
lations,  I  copied  for  the  press  the  Gospel  of  John  and 
some  of  the  Psalms.  A  part  of  the  latter  were  my  own 
translation,  and  a  part  were  secured,  as  the  Gospel  was, 
through  Mr.  Renville.  There  was  also  a  hymn-book  to 
edit,  and  some  school-books  to  be,  prepared.  So  the  win 
ter  was  filled  with  work  and  service.  The  remembrance 
of  it  is  only  pleasant.  Of  course,  the  ordinary  family 
trials  were  experienced.  A  bucket  of  water  was  spilled 
and  was  leaking  down  on  Mrs.  Williamson's  bed  below, 
or  one  of  the  children  fell  down  the  stairs,  or  our  little 
Bella  crawled  out  of  the  window  and  sat  on  the  little 
shelf  where  the  milk  was  set  to  cool  in  the  morning,  giv 
ing  us  a  good  scare,  etc. 

MARY  TO  HER  BROTHER  ALFRED. 

"  LAC-QUI-PABLE,  April  28,  1841. 

"  Your  letter  presented  to  my  l  mind's  eye '  our  moun 
tain  home.  I  entered  the  lower  gate,  passed  up  the  lane 
between  the  elms,  maples,  and  cherries,  and  saw  once  more 
our  mountain  home  embowered  by  the  fir-trees  and  shrub 
bery  I  loved  so  well.  How  many  times  have  I  watched 
the  first  buddings  of  those  rose-bushes  and  lilacs,  and 
with  what  care  and  delight  have  I  nursed  those  snow 
balls,  half  dreaming  they  were  sister  spirits,  telling  by 
their  delicate  purity  of  that  Eden  where  flowers  never 
fade  and  leaves  never  wither.  Perhaps  I  was  too  pas 
sionately  fond  of  flowers  ;  if  so,  that  fondness  is  suffi 
ciently  blunted,  if  not  subdued.  Not  a  solitary  shrub, 
tree,  or  flower  rears  its  head  near  our  dwelling,  excepting 


FORTY   YEARS   WITH   THE    SIOUX.  97 

those  of  nature's  planting  at  no  great  distance  on  the  op 
posite  side  of  the  St.  Peter's,  and  a  copse  of  plums  in  a 
dell  on  the  left,  and  of  scrub-oak  on  the  right.  Back  of 
us  is  the  river  hill  which  shelters  us  from  the  furious 
wind  of  the  high  prairie  beyond.  Until  last  season  we 
have  had  no  enclosure,  and  now  we  have  but  a  poor  de 
fence  against  the  depredations  of  beasts,  and  still  more 
lawless  and  savage  men.  On  reading  descriptions  of  the 
situation  of  our  missionary  brethren  and  sisters  in  Beirut, 
Jerusalem,  and  elsewhere,  the  thought  has  arisen,  '  That 
is  such  a  place  as  I  should  like  to  call  home.'  But  the 
remembrance  of  earthquakes,  war,  and  the  plague,  by 
which  those  countries  are  so  often  scourged,  hushed  each 
murmuring  thought.  When  I  also  recollected  the  myste 
rious  providences  which  have  written  the  Persian  mission 
aries  childless,  how  could  I  long  or  wish  to  possess  more 
earthly  comforts,  while  my  husband  and  our  two  <  olive 
plants  '  are  spared  to  sit  around  our  table.  Little  Bella 
already  creeps  to  her  father,  and,  if  granted  a  seat  on  his 
knee,  holds  her  little  hands,  although,  as  Alfred  says,  '  she 
does  not  wait  till  papa  says  amen.'  While  we  are  sur 
rounded  by  so  many  blessings,  I  would  not,  like  God's  an 
cient  people,  provoke  him  by  murmuring,  as  I  fear  I  have 
done,  and  if  he  should  deprive  us  of  any  of  the  comforts 
we  now  possess,  may  he  give  us  grace  to  feel  as  did  Hab- 
akkuk,  '  Although  the  fig-tree  shall  not  blossom,  neither 
shall  fruit  be  in  the  vine,  etc.,  yet  I  will  rejoice  in  the 
Lord  and  joy  in  the  God  of  my  Salvation.' 

"I  suppose  you  have  hardly  yet  found  how  much  of 
romance  is  mingled  with  your  ideas  of  a  married  state. 
You  will  find  real  life  much  the  same  that  you  have  ever 
found,  and  with  additional  joys,  additional  cares  and  sor 
rows.  I  have  realized  as  much  happiness  as  I  anticipated, 


98  MARY    AND    I. 

though  many  of  my  bright  visions  have  not  been  realized, 
and  others  have  been  much  changed  in  outline  and  finish 
ing.  For  instance,  our  still  winter  evenings  are  seldom 
enlivened  by  reading,  while  I  am  engaged  lulling  our 
little  ones  or  plying  my  needle.  Although  I  should 
greatly  enjoy  such  a  treat  occasionally ',  I  can  not,  in  our 
situation,  expect  it,  while  it  is  often  almost  the  only  time 
husband  can  secure  for  close  and  uninterrupted  study. 
You  know  the  time  of  a  missionary  is  not  his  own" 

"  Thursday,  May  19,  1841. 

"  Perhaps  the  scene  that  would  amuse  you  most  would 
be  *  the  babies'  morning  ride.'  The  little  wagon  in  which 
Isabella  and  my  namesake,  Mary  Ann  Huggins,  are  drawn 
by  the  older  children,  even  Alfred  ambitious  to  assist, 
would  be  in  complete  contrast  with  '  the  royal  princess' 
cradle ' ;  yet  I  doubt  not  it  affords  them  as  much  pleas 
ure  as  a  more  elegant  one  would.  Alfred's  was  made  by 
his  father,  and  Hetta,  an  Indian  girl  living  at  Mr.  Hug- 
gins',  constructed  a  canopy,  which  gives  it  a  tasteful, 
though  somewhat  rude  appearance.  Mrs.  Williamson's 
son  John  draws  his  sister  in  a  wagon  of  his  own,  so  that 
the  whole  troop  of  ten  little  ones,  with  their  carriages, 
form  a  miniature  pleasure  party." 

"  LAC-QUI-PAKLE,  Feb.  26,  1842. 

"We  are  grateful  for  the  expression  of  kindness  for  us 
and  for  our  children,  and  we  hope  that  our  duty  to  those 
whom  God  has  committed  to  our  care  will  be  made  plain. 
Before  your  letter  reached  us,  containing  the  remark  of 
'Mother  Clark'  about  taking  the  little  girl,  we  had 
another  little  daughter  added  to  our  family,  and  had  con- 


FOKTY   YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  99 

eluded  to  leave  Isabella  with  Miss  Fanny  Huggins,  as  it 
is  probable  we  shall  return  to  this  region,  instead  of 
ascending  the  Missouri.  Our  little  Martha  we  shall 
of  course  not  leave  behind  if  our  lives  are  spared  and  we 
are  permitted  to  go  East ;  and  Alfred  we  intend  taking 
with  us  as  far  as  Ohio." 

Of  the  next  year  —  from  the  spring  of  1842  —  little 
need  be  said  in  this  connection.  The  preparations  were 
all  made.  Mary  and  I  took  with  us  the  little  boy,  now  in 
his  fifth  year,  and  the  baby,  while  the  little  girl  between 
was  left  in  the  care  of  Miss  Fanny  Huggins.  It  was  a 
year  of  enjoyment.  Mary  visited  the  old  home  on  Haw- 
ley  hills.  The  old  grandfather  was  still  there,  and  the 
younger  members  of  the  family  had  grown  up.  Here, 
during  the  summer,  the  little  boy  born  in  Dakota  land 
gathered  strawberries  in  the  meadows  of  Massachusetts. 
Our  school-books  and  hymn-book  were  printed  in  Boston, 
and  in  the  autumn  we  came  to  Ohio.  During  the  winter 
months  the  Bible-printing  was  done  in  Cincinnati. 

When  we  were  ready  to  start  back,  in  the  spring  of 
1843,  we  had  secured  as  fellow-laborers,  at  the  new  sta 
tion  which  we  were  instructed  to  form,  Robert  Hopkins 
and  his  young  wife  Agnes,  and  Miss  Julia  Kephart,  all 
from  Ripley,  Ohio.  The  intercourse  with  so  many  sym 
pathizing  Christian  hearts,  which  had  been  much  inter 
ested  in  the  Dakota  mission  from  its  commencement,  was 
refreshing.  We  found,  too,  that  we  had  both  been  for 
getting  our  mother  tongue  somewhat,  in  the  efforts  made 
to  learn  Dakota.  This  must  be  guarded  against  in  the 
future.  In  our  desire  to  be  Dakotas  we  must  not  cease 
to  be  English. 

The  bottoms  of  the  Lower  Minnesota  were  putting  on 


100  MARY    AND    I. 

their  richest  robes  of  green,  and  the  great  wild-rose  gar 
dens  were  coming  into  full  perfection  of  beauty,  when, 
in  the  month  of  June,  our  barge,  laden  with  mission  sup 
plies,  was  making  its  way  up  to  Traverse  des  Sioux.  At 
what  was  known  as  "  The  Little  Rapids  "  was  a  village 
of  Wahpaton  Dakotas,  the  old  home  of  the  people  at 
Lac-qui-parle.  There  were  certain  reasons  why  we 
thought  that  might  be  the  point  for  the  new  station.  We 
made  a  halt  there  of  half  a  day,  and  called  the  chief  men. 
But  they  were  found  to  be  too  much  under  the  influence 
of  the  Treaty  Indians  below  to  give  us  any  encourage 
ment.  In  fact,  they  did  not  want  missionaries. 

We  passed  by,  and  landed  our  boats  at  the  Traverse. 
The  day  before  reaching  this  point,  Mrs.  Hopkins  and 
Mary  had  made  arrangements  to  have  some  light  bread, 
—  they  were  tired  eating  the  heavy  cakes  of  the  voyage. 
They  succeeded  to  their  satisfaction,  and  placed  the  warm 
bread  away,  in  a  safe  place,  as  they  supposed,  within  the 
tent,  ready  for  the  morning.  But  when  the  breakfast 
was  ready,  the  bread  was  not  there.  During  the  night 
an  Indian  hand  had  taken  it. 

The  Dakotas  were  accustomed  to  do  such  things. 
While  at  Lac-qui-parle  we  were  constantly  annoyed  by 
thefts.  An  axe  or  a  hoe  could  not  be  left  out-of-doors, 
but  it  would  be  taken.  And  in  our  houses  we  were  con 
tinually  missing  little  things.  A  towel  hanging  on  the 
wall  would  be  tucked  under  the  blanket  of  a  woman,  or 
a  girl  would  sidle  up  to  a  stand  and  take  a  pair  of  scis 
sors.  Any  thing  that  could  be  easily  concealed  was  sure 
to  be  missing,  if  we  gave  them  an  opportunity.  And 
these  people  at  the  Traverse  (Sissetons  they  were)  we 
found  quite  equal  to  those  at  Lac-qui-parle.  Stealing, 
even  among  themselves,  was  not  considered  very  dis- 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  101 

honorable.      The  men  said  they  did  not  steal,  but  the 
women  were  all  wamanonsa. 

We  had  decided  to  make  this  our  new  station.  We 
should  consult  the  Indians,  but  our  staying  would  not 
depend  upon  their  giving  us  an  invitation  to  stay.  And 
so  the  first  thing  to  be  done  was  to  start  off  the  train  to 
Lac-qui-parle.  In  the  early  part  of  June,  1842,  after 
Mary  and  I  left,  there  had  come  frosts  which  cut  off  the 
Indian  corn.  The  prospect  was  that  the  village  would  be 
abandoned  pretty  much  during  the  year.  This  led  Dr. 
Williamson  to  come  down  to  Fort  Snelling,  as  Mr.  S.  W. 
Pond  and  wife  had  already  gone  up  to  take  our  place. 
This  spring  of  1843,  Mr.  Pond  had  left,  and  Dr.  William 
son  could  not  return  until  the  autumn,  as  he  had  engaged 
temporarily  to  fill  the  place  of  surgeon  in  the  garrison. 
In  these  circumstances  it  was  deemed  advisable  for  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Hopkins  to  go  on  to  Lac-qui-parle  for  a  year. 
Mary  took  her  baby,  Martha  Taylor,  now  fifteen  months 
old,  and  went  up  with  them  to  bring  down  Isabella. 

Thomas  Longley,  a  young  man  of  22  years,  and  rejoic 
ing  in  a  young  man's  strength,  had  joined  us  at  Fort  Snel 
ling.  He  was  a  part  of  our  boat's  company  up  the  Minne 
sota;  and  now  he  and  I  and  the  little  boy,  Zitkadan  Wash- 
tay,  remained  to  make  a  beginning.  Immediately  I  called 
the  Indians  and  had  a  talk  with  them,  at  Mr.  Le  Eland's 
trading-post.  I  told  them  we  had  come  to  live  with  them, 
and  to  teach  them.  Some  said  yes  and  some  said  no.  But 
they  all  asked,  What  have  you  to  give  us? 

It  was  at  a  time  of  year  when  they  were  badly  off  for 
food,  and  so  I  gave  them  two  barrels  of  flour.  Before 
the  council  was  over,  some  of  the  principal  men  became 
so  stupid  from  the  influence  of  whiskey  which  they  had  been 
drinking,  that  they  did  not  know  what  they  were  saying. 


102  MARY    AND    I. 

Old  Sleepy  Eyes  and  Tankamane  were  the  chief  men 
present.  They  were  favorable  to  our  stopping,  and  re 
mained  friends  of  the  mission  as  long  as  it  was  continued 
there.  But  some  of  the  younger  men  were  opposed. 
One  especially,  who  had  a  keg  of  whiskey  that  he  was 
taking  to  the  Upper  Minnesota,  was  reported  as  saying 
that  when  he  had  disposed  of  his  whiskey,  he  would  come 
back  and  stop  Tamakoche's  building.  But  he  never  came 
back — only  a  few  days  after  this,  he  was  killed  in  a 
drunken  frolic. 

We  expected  to  meet  with  opposition,  and  so  were  not 
disappointed.  Thomas  and  I  pitched  our  tents  under 
some  scrub-oaks,  on  a  little  elevation,  in  the  lower  river 
bottom,  a  half  a  mile  away  from  the  Trader's.  Immedi 
ately  we  commenced  to  cut  and  haul  logs  for  our  cabin. 

In  the  meantime,  the  party  going  to  Lac-qui-parle  were 
nearing  their  destination.  With  them  there  were  three 
young  men  who  had  accompanied  us  to  Ohio,  and  spent 
the  year.  Their  baptized  names  were  Simon,  Henok,  and 
Lorenzo.  Each  was  about  twenty  years  old.  While  on 
their  way  down,  we  had  cut  off  their  hair  and  dressed 
them  up  as  white  men.  They  had  all  learned  much  in 
their  absence;  while  two  of  them  had  added  their  names 
to  the  rolls  of  Christian  churches  in  Ohio.  Thus,  they 
were  returning.  The  party  spent  the  Sabbath  a  day's 
travel  from  Lac-qui-parle.  On  Monday,  before  noon,  these 
young  men  had  seen,  on  some  far-off  prairie  elevation, 
what  seemed  to  be  Indians  lying  down.  But  their  sus 
picions  of  a  war-party  were  not  very  pronounced. 

Five  miles  from  the  mission,  the  road  crosses  the 
Mayakawan  —  otherwise  called  the  Chippewa  River.  It 
was  a  hot  afternoon  when  the  mission  party  approached 
it.  They  were  thirsty,  and  the  young  men  had  started  on 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  103 

to  drink.  Simon  was  ahead,  and  on  horseback.  Sud 
denly,  as  he  neared  the  stream,  there  emerged  from  the 
wood  a  war-party  of  O  jib  was,  carrying  two  fresh  scalps. 
Simon  rode  up  and  shook  hands  with  them.  He  could  do 
this  safely,  as  he  was  dressed  like  a  white  man.  They 
showed  him  the  scalps,  all  gory  with  blood ;  but  he  wot 
not  that  one  of  them  was  his  own  brother's.  This  brother 
and  his  wife  and  a  young  man  were  coming  to  meet  their 
friends.  As  the  two  men  came  to  the  crossing,  they  were 
shot  down  by  the  Ojibwas,  who  lay  concealed  in  the 
bushes.  The  woman,  who  was  a  little  distance  behind, 
heard  the  guns  and  fled,  carrying  the  news  back  to  the 
village.  And  so  it  happened  that  by  the  time  the  mis 
sion  teams  had  fairly  crossed  the  river,  they  were  met  by 
almost  the  whole  village  of  maddened  Dakotas.  They 
were  in  pursuit  of  the  Ojibwas.  But  had  not  the  mis 
sionaries  taken  these  boys  to  Ohio  ?  And  had  not  these 
two  young  men  been  killed  as  they  were  coming  to  meet 
the  boys?  Were  not  the  missionaries  the  cause  of  it  all? 
So  questioned  and  believed  many  of  the  frantic  men. 
And  one  man  raised  his  gun  and  shot  one  of  the  horses 
in  the  double  team,  which  carried  Mrs.  Hopkins  and  Mary. 
This  made  it  necessary  for  them  to  walk  the  remainder 
of  the  way  in  the  broiling  sun  of  summer.  Mary  found 
her  little  girl  too  heavy  a  load,  and  after  a  while  was 
kindly  relieved  of  her  burden  by  a  Dakota  woman,  whom 
she  had  taught  to  wash.  The  excitement  and  trouble 
were  a  terrible  strain  on  her  nervous  system,  and  made 
the  gray  hairs  come  prematurely  here  and  there  among 
the  black. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

1843-1846.— Great  Sorrow.— Thomas  Drowned. —Mary's  Letter. 
-  The  Indians'  Thoughts.  —  Old  Gray-Leaf .  —  Oxen  Killed.— 
Hard  Field.  —  Sleepy  Eyes'  Horse.  —  Indian  in  Prison.  —  The 
Lord  Keeps  Us.  — Simon's  Shame.  — Mary's  Letter.  — Robert 
Hopkins  and  Agnes.  — Le  Bland. —  White  Man  Ghost.  —  Ben 
nett.  —  Sleepy  Eyes'  Camp.  —  Drunken  Indians.  —  Making 
Sugar. — Military  Company.  —  Dakota  Prisoners.  —  Stealing 
Melons. — Preaching  and  School. — A  Canoe  Voyage. — Red 
Wing. 

SUDDENLY,  at  the  very  commencement  of  our  new  sta 
tion,  we  were  called  to  meet  a  great  sorrow.  Mary  had 
come  back  from  Lac-qui-parle  with  the  two  little  girls,  and 
our  family  were  all  together  once  more.  Mr.  Huggins 
and  his  sister,  Miss  Fanny  Huggins,  and  Mr.  Isaac  Petti- 
john  had  come  down  along.  Mr.  Pettijohn  helped  us 
much  to  forward  the  log  cabin.  Saturday  came,  the  15th 
of  July  —  and  the  roof  was  nearly  finished.  We  should 
move  into  its  shelter  very  soon.  No  one  was  rejoicing  in 
the  prospect  more  than  the  young  brother,  Thomas  Law 
rence  Longley.  He  sang  as  he  worked  that  morning. 

Mr.  Huggins  had  the  toothache,  and,  about  10  o'clock, 
said  he  would  go  and  bathe,  as  that  sometimes  helped  his 
teeth.  Brother  T.  proposed  that  we  should  go  also,  to 
which  I  at  first  objected,  and  said  we  would  go  after 
dinner.  He  thought  we  should  have  something  else  to  do 
then  ;  and,  remembering  that  once  or  twice  I  had  prevented 
his  bathing,  by  not  going  when  he  wished,  I  consented. 
We  had  been  in  the  water  but  a  moment,  when,  turning 

104 


FORTY   YEARS   WITH   THE    SIOUX.  105 

around,  I  saw  T.  throw  up  his  hands  and  clap  them  over 
his  head.  My  first  thought  was  that  he  was  drowning. 
The  current  was  strong  and  setting  out  from  the  shore.  I 
swam  to  him  —  he  caught  me  by  the  hand,  but  did  not  ap 
pear  to  help  himself  in  the  least  —  probably  had  the  cramp. 
I  tried  to  get  toward  shore  with  him,  but  could  not.  He 
pulled  me  under  once  or  twice,  and  I  began  to  think  I 
should  be  drowned  with  him.  But  when  we  came  up 
again,  he  released  his  grasp,  and,  as  I  was  coming  into 
shallow  water,  with  some  difficulty,  I  reached  the  shore. 
But  the  dear  boy  Thomas  appeared  not  again.  The  cruel 
waters  rolled  over  him.  In  the  meantime,  Mr.  Huggins 
had  jumped  into  a  canoe,  and  was  coming  to  our  relief. 
But  it  was  too  late  —  too  late  ! 

Mary's  first  letter  after  the  15th  of  July,  1843:  — 
"Traverse  des  Sioux,  Friday  noon:  What  shall  I  add, 
my  dear  parents,  to  the  sad  tidings  my  husband  has  writ 
ten  ?  Will  it  console  you  in  any  measure  to  know  that 
one  of  our  first  and  most  frequent  petitions  at  the  throne 
of  grace  has  been  that  God  would  prepare  your  hearts 
for  the  news,  which,  we  feared,  would  be  heart-breaking, 
unless  'the  Comforter'  comforted  you  and  the  Almighty 
strengthened  you?  We  hope  —  indeed,  some  small 
measure  of  faith  is  given  us  to  believe  —  that  you  will 
be  comforted  and  sustained,  under  this  chastening  from 
the  Lord.  And  oh,  like  subdued,  humbled,  and  peni 
tent  children,  may  we  all  kiss  the  rod,  and  earnestly 
pray  that  this  sore  chastisement  may  be  for  our  spiritual 
good  ! 

"  I  feel  that  this  affliction,  such  as  I  have  never  before 
known,  is  intended  to  prepare  us  who  are  left  for  life  and 
death.  Perhaps  some  of  us  may  soon  follow  him  whom 
we  all  loved.  When  I  stand  by  his  grave,  overshadowed 


106  MAKY   AND   I. 

by  three  small  oaks,  with  room  for  another  person  by  his 
side,  I  think  that  place  may  be  for  me. 

"  The  last  Sabbath  he  was  with  us  was  just  after  my 
return  from  Lac-qui-parle.  I  reached  here  on  Saturday, 
and  having  passed  through  distressing  scenes  on  our  way 
to  Lac-qui-parle,  occasioned  by  an  attack  of  the  Chippe- 
was  on  some  Sioux  who  were  coming  to  meet  us,  I  felt 
uncommon  forebodings  lest  something  had  befallen  the 
dear  ones  I  had  left  here.  But  I  endeavored  to  cast  my 
care  upon  the  Lord,  remembering  that  while  we  were 
homeless  and  houseless  we  were  more  like  our  Saviour. 
And  that  if  he  was  despised  and  rejected  of  men,  ice 
surely  ought  not  to  repine  if  we  were  treated  as  our 
Master.  With  such  feelings  as  these,  as  we  came  in  sight 
of  husband's  tent,  I  pointed  it  out  to  Isabella,  when  she 
asked,  '^here's  papa's  house?'  and  soon  I  saw  Mr. 
Riggs  and  brother  Thomas  and  little  Alfred  coming  to 
meet  us. 

"  Not  quite  one  week  after  that  joyful  hour,  Mr.  Riggs 
came  home  from  the  St.  Peter's,  groaning,  'Oh,  Mary, 
Thomas  is  drowned  —  Thomas  is  drowned  ! '  I  did  not, 
I  could  not  receive  the  full  import.  I  still  thought  his 
body  would  be  recovered  and  life  restored ;  for  your 
sakes,  I  cried  for  mercy,  but  it  came  not  in  the  way  I 
then  desired.  Still,  I  tried  to  flatter  myself,  even  after 
search  for  the  body  had  been  given  up  for  the  day,  that 
it  had  floated  down  upon  a  sand-bar,  and  he  would  yet 
live  arid  return  in  the  dusk  of  the  evening.  But  when  I 
lay  down  for  the  night,  and  the  impossibility  of  my  illu 
sive  hopes  being  realized  burst  upon  me,  oh  — 

"  The  hand  of  the  Lord  had  touched  us,  and  we  were 
ready  to  sink;  but  the  same  kind  hand  sustained  us. 
May  the  same  Almighty  Father  strengthen  you.  One 


FORTY   YEAES    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  107 

thought  comforted  me  not  a  little.  '  If  brother  Thomas 
had  gone  home  to  our  father's  house  in  Massachusetts,  I 
should  not  have  grieved  much ;  and  now  he  had  gone  to 
his  Father's  and  our  Father's  home  in  Heaven,  why 
should  I  mourn  so  bitterly  ?  I  felt  that  God  had  a  right 
to  call  him  when  he  pleased,  and  I  saw  his  mercy,  in 
sparing  my  husband  to  me  a  little  longer,  when  he  was 
but  a  step  from  the  eternal  world.  Still,  I  felt  that  I  had 
lost  a  brother,  and  such  a  brother  ! 

"Before  I  went  to  Lac-qui-parle,  I  had  confided  Alfred 
to  his  special  care.  I  knew  that  the  rejection  of  our  offer 
of  stopping  at  the  Little  Rapids,  by  the  Indians  there, 
had  been  exceedingly  painful  and  discouraging  to  Mr. 
Riggs,  and  the  rumor  that  the  Indians  here  would  do 
likewise  was  no  less  so ;  and  I  should  have  felt  very  un 
pleasantly  in  going  for  Isabella  at  that  time,  but  it 
seemed  necessary,  and  I  felt  that  brother  Thomas  would 
be,  what  he  was,  '  a  friend  in  need.'  On  my  return,  on 
recounting  the  scenes  I  had  passed  through,  the  killing 
by  the  Chippewas  of  the  eldest  brother  of  one  of  our 
young  men,  as  he  was  coming  to  meet  him  — the  shooting 
of  one  of  our  horses  by  a  Sioux  man,  who  pretended  to 
be  offended  because  we  did  not  pursue  the  Chippewas, 
when  we  were  more  than  three  miles  from  the  mission, 
and  that  I  carried  Martha  there  in  my  arms,  one  of  the 
warmest  afternoons  we  had  —  Thomas  said,  '  I  see 
you  have  grown  poor,  but  you  will  improve  from  this 
time.' 

"On  Saturday  morning,  as  we  were  busily  engaged 
near  each  other,  he  sang,  '  Our  cabin  is  small  and  coarse 
our  fare,  But  love  has  spread  our  banquet  here  ! '  Soon 
afterward  he  went  to  bathe,  and  of  course  our  roof  and 
floor  remained  unfinished,  but  that  evening  we  termi- 


108  MAKY    AND   I. 

nated  in  sadness  what  had  been  to  us  a  happy  feast  of 
tabernacles,  by  moving  into  our  humble  dwelling.  For  a 
little  while  on  Sabbath,  his  remains  found  a  resting-place 
within  the  house  his  hands  had  reared.  I  kissed  his 
cheek  as  he  lay  upon  a  plank  resting  on  that  large  red 
chest  and  box  which  were  sent  from  home,  but,  owing  to 
the  haste  and  excitement,  I  did  not  think  to  take  a  lock 
of  hair.  It  curled  as  beautifully  as  ever,  although  drip 
ping  with  water,  and  the  countenance  was  natural,  I 
thought,  but  it  has  rather  dimmed  my  recollections  of 
him  as  he  was  when  living.  I  felt  so  thankful  that 
his  body  had  been  found  before  any  great  change 
had  taken  place,  that  gratitude  to  God  supplanted  my 
grief  while  we  buried  him.  Mr.  Huggins  and  Fanny 
sang  an  Indian  hymn  made  from  the  15th  chapter  of 
First  Corinthians,  and  then,  '  Unveil  thy  bosom,  faith 
ful  tomb.'  We  cajne  home  just  after  sunset.  It  is 
but  a  little  distance  from  our  dwelling,  and  in  the 
same  'garden  of  roses,'  as  Thomas  called  it,  where  he 
now  sleeps." 

Only  a  few  additional  circumstances  need  to  be  noted. 
The  sad  story  was  carried  speedily  to  the  Indian  tents, 
and  those  who  were  in  the  neighborhood  came  to  look  on 
and  give  what  sympathy  and  help  they  could.  That  was 
not  much.  The  deep  hole  was  too  deep  to  be  reached  by 
any  means  at  our  command.  The  waters  rolled  on,  and 
to  us,  as  we  gazed  on  them,  knowing  that  the  dear 
brother,  Thomas,  was  underneath  them,  they  began  more 
and  more  to  assume  a  frightful  appearance.  For  months 
and  months  after,  they  had  that  frightful  look.  I  shud 
dered  when  I  looked.  The  Indians  said  their  water  God, 
OoukteJie,  was  displeased  with  us  for  coming  to  build 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  109 

there.  He  had  seized  the  young  man.  It  did  seem  some 
times  as  though  God  wos  against  us. 

The  Saturday's  sun  went  down  without  giving  success 
to  our  efforts,  and  on  Sabbath  morning  the  Indians  re 
newed  the  search  somewhat,  but  with  no  better  result. 
Toward  evening  the  body  was  found  to  have  risen  and 
drifted  to  a  sand-bar  below.  We  took  it  up  tenderly, 
washed  and  wrapped  it  in  a  clean  linen  sheet,  and  placed 
it  in  the  new  cabin,  on  which  his  hands  had  wrought.  A 
grave  was  dug  hastily  under  the  scrub-oaks,  where,  with 
only  some  loose  boards  about  it,  we  laid  our  brother 
to  rest  until  the  resurrection.  That  was  our  Allon- 
bachuth.  We  were  dumb,  because  God  did  it.  That 
was  the  first  great  shadow  that  came  over  our  home.  It 
was  one  of  ourselves  that  had  gone.  The  sorrow  was  too 
great  to  find  expression  in  tears  or  lamentations.  The 
Dakotas  observed  this.  One  day  old  Black  Eagle  came 
in  and  chided  us  for  it.  "  The  ducks  and  the  geese  and 
the  deer,"  he  said,  "when  one  is  killed,  make  an  outcry 
about  it,  and  the  sorrow  passes  by.  The  Dakotas,  too, 
like  these  wild  animals,  make  a  great  wailing  over  a  dead 
friend  —  they  wail  out  their  sorrow,  and  it  becomes 
lighter  ;  but  you  keep  your  sorrow  —  you  brood  over  it, 
and  it  becomes  heavier."  There  was  truth  in  what  the 
old  man  said.  But  we  did  not  fail  to  cast  our  burden 
upon  the  Lord,  and  to  obtain  strength  from  a  source 
which  the  Black  Eagle  knew  not  of. 

The  old  men  came  frequently  to  comfort  us  in  this 
way,  and  it  gave  us  an  opportunity  of  telling  them 
about  Christ,  who  is  the  great  Conqueror  over  death 
and  the  grave.  Sometimes  they  came  in  and  sat  in 
silence,  as  old  Sleepy  Eyes  and  Tankamane  often  did, 
and  that  did  us  good.  Old  Gray  Leaf  had  a  gift  of  talk- 


110  MARY    AND   I. 

ing  —  he  believed  in  talking.  When  he  came  in,  he  made 
an  excited  speech,  and  at  the  close  said,  "  I  don't  mean 
anything." 

About  this  time  Mary  wrote :  "  A  few  days  after  T. 
was  drowned,  some  of  the  Indians  here,  entirely  regard 
less  of  our  affliction,  came  and  demanded  provisions  as 
pay  for  the  logs  in  our  cabin.  Mr.  Riggs  had  previously 
given  them  two  barrels  of  flour,  and  it  was  out  of  our 
power  to  aid  them  any  more  then,  although  Mr.  R.  told 
them,  after  their  cruel  speeches,  that  he  would  endeavor 
to  purchase  some  corn,  when  the  Fur  Company's  boat 
came  up.  They  threatened  killing  our  cattle  and  tearing 
down  our  cabin,  and  husband's  proposition  did  not  pre 
vent  their  executing  the  first  part  of  their  threat.  Just 
one  week  after  dear  T.  was  drowned,  one  ox  was  killed, 
and  in  eight  days  more  the  other  shared  the  same  fate. 
Then  we  felt  that  it  was  very  probable  our  cabin  would 
be  demolished  next." 

The  summer  was  wearing  away.  We  were  getting 
some  access  to  the  people.  On  the  Sabbath,  we  could 
gather  in  a  few,  to  be  present  while  we  sang  Dakota 
hymns  and  read  the  Bible  and  prayed.  But  there  was 
a  good  deal  of  opposition.  As  our  oxen  had  been  killed 
and  eaten,  and  we  were  approaching  the  winter,  it  was 
necessary  that  we  have  some  means  of  drawing  our  fire 
wood.  So  I  bought  one  ox,  and  harnessed  him  as  the 
Red  River  people  do.  He  was  a  faithful  servant  to  us 
during  that  winter,  but  the  next  summer  he  too  was 
killed  and  eaten.  This  time  they  came  boldly,  and 
broke  open  our  stable,  and  killed  and  carried  awny  the 
animal.  It  seemed  as  if  they  were  determined  that  we 


FORTY    TEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  Ill 

should  not  stay.  Did  the  Lord  mean  to  have  us  give  up 
our  work  there?  We  did  not  want  to  decide  that  ques 
tion  hastily. 

In  the  meantime,  the  field  was  proving  to  be  a  very 
unpromising  as  well  as  difficult  one,  because  of  the  great 
quantities  of  whiskey  brought  in.  St.  Paul  was  then 
made  up  of  a  few  grog-shops,  which  relied  chiefly  on  the 
trade  with  the  Indians.  They  took  pelts,  or  guns,  or 
blankets,  or  horses  —  whatever  the  Indian  had  to  give  for 
his  keg  of  whiskey.  The  trade  was  a  good  one.  The 
Lower  Sioux  bought  for  the  Upper  ones,  and  helped 
them  to  buy ;  and  those  at  the  Traverse  and  other 
points  engaged  in  the  carrying  trade.  When  a  keg  was 
brought  up,  a  general  drunk  was  the  result ;  but  there 
was  enough  left  to  fill  with  water,  and  carry  up  farther 
and  sell  for  a  pony.  This  made  our  work  very  dis 
couraging.  Besides,  we  were  often  annoyed  by  the  visits 
of  drunken  Indians.  Sometimes  they  came  with  guns 
and  knives.  So  that  we  all  felt  the  strain  of  those 
years,  and  we  often  asked  one  another,  "  What  good  is  to 
come  of  this?" 

One  winter  night,  Sleepy  Eyes  had  come  in  from 
Swan  Lake,  and  placed  his  horse  at  our  haystack,  while 
he  himself  went  to  the  trader's  to  spend  the  night.  Just 
before  we  retired  to  rest,  we  heard  voices  and  feet 
hurrying  past  our  door.  I  went  out  and  found  that 
two  men  and  a  woman  were  at  the  stable  —  the  men 
were  shooting  arrows  into  Sleepy  Eyes'  horse.  One  of 
the  men  said,  "  I  asked  uncle  for  this  horse,  and  he  did 
not  give  it  to  me  —  I  am  killing  it."  They  had  done 
their  work.  Perhaps  I  had  interfered  unnecessarily  — 
certainly  unsuccessfully.  As  they  returned  and  passed 
by  our  cabin,  I  was  behind  them,  and,  as  I  was  stepping 


112  MARY    AND   I. 

in  at  the  door,  an  arrow  whizzed  by.  Was  it  intended 
to  hit? 

The  next  morning  that  Indian  started  off  for  whiskey, 
but  a  white  man  passed  down  the  country  also,  and  told 
the  story  at  Fort  Snelling.  The  result  was  that  the  man 
who  killed  his  uncle's  horse  was  put  in  the  guard-house. 
Not  for  that,  but  for  shooting  at  a  white  man,  he  was  to 
be  taken  down  into  Iowa,  to  be  tried  for  assault.  The 
commandant  of  the  post  at  Snelling  doubted  whether 
good  would  come  of  it,  and  I  fully  agreed  with  him. 
And  so,  in  the  month  of  March,  Tankamane  (Big 
Walker)  and  I  went  down  to  the  fort  and  procured 
his  release.  He  promised  well  —  he  would  drink  no 
whiskey  while  he  lived  —  he  would  always  be  the  white 
man's  friend.  He  signed  the  pledge  and  went  back  with 
Big  Walker  and  myself.  A  captain's  wife  asked  how 
I  dared  to  go  in  company  with  that  man.  I  said, 
"  Madam,  that  man  will  be  my  best  friend."  And 
so  he  was.  He  went  up  to  the  Blue  Earth  hunting- 
grounds,  and  brought  us  in  some  fine  venison  hams. 

But  still  intemperance  increased.  A  drunken  man 
went  to  the  mission  singing,  and  asked  for  food.  They 
gave  him  a  plate  of  rice  and  a  spoon,  but  he  did  not  feel 
like  eating  then.  After  slobbering  over  it  awhile,  he 
compelled  the  white  women  to  eat  it.  They  were  too 
much  afraid  to  refuse.  One  time  Mr.  Hopkins  and  I 
were  both  away  until  midnight,  when  my  friend,  Tanka 
mane,  while  drunk,  visited  the  house  and  threatened  to 
break  in  the  door.  But  we  reached  home  soon  after 
ward,  and  the  women  slept.  Thus  we  had  the  "  terror 
and  the  arrow,"  but  the  Lord  shielded  us. 

These  were  very  trying  years  of  missionary  work.  It 
was  at  this  time  our  good  friend  and  brother,  Simon 


FORTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          113 

Anawangmane,  who  had  come  from  Lac-qui-parle,  gave 
way  to  the  temptation  of  strong  drink.  We  were  grieved, 
and  he  was  ashamed.  We  prayed  for  him  and  with  him, 
and  besought  him  to  touch  it  not  again.  He  promised, 
but  he  did  not  keep  his  promise.  He  soon  developed  a 
passion  for  "  fire  water."  It  was  not  long  before  he  put 
off  his  white  man's  clothes,  and,  dressed  like  an  Indian, 
he  too  was  on  his  way  to  the  western  plains,  to  buy  a 
horse  with  a  keg  of  whiskey.  There  were  times  of  re 
penting  and  attempted  reformation,  but  they  were  fol 
lowed  by  sinning  again  and  again.  Shame  took  posses 
sion  of  the  man,  and  shame  among  the  Dakotas  holds 
with  a  terrible  grip.  He  will  not  let  go,  and  is  not  ea 
sily  shaken  off.  Shame  is  a  shameless  fellow ;  it  insti 
gates  to  many  crimes.  So  eight  years  passed  with 
Simon.  Sometimes  he  was  almost  persuaded  to  attempt 
a  new  life.  Sometimes  he  came  to  church  and  sat  down 
on  the  door-step,  not  venturing  to  go  in ;  he  was  afraid  of 
himself,  as  well  he  might  be. 

"  TRAVERSE  DBS  Sioux,  July  13,  1844. 
"...  The  Indians  and  the  babies,  the  chickens  and 
the  mice,  seem  leagued  to  destroy  the  flowers,  and  they 
have  wellnigh  succeeded.  Perhaps  you  will  wonder 
why  I  should  bestow  any  of  my  precious  time  on  flow 
ers,  when  their  cultivation  is  attended  \vith  so  many 
difficulties.  The  principal  reason  is  that  I  find  my  mind 
needs  some  such  cheering  relaxation.  In  leaving  my 
childhood's  home  for  this  Indian  land,  you  know,  my 
dear  mother,  I  left  almost  everything  I  held  dear,  and 
gave  up  almost  every  innocent  pleasure  I  once  enjoyed. 
Much  as  I  may  have  failed  in  many  respects,  I  am  per 
suaded  there  was  a  firmness  of  purpose,  to  count  no 


114  MARY   AND   I. 

necessary  sacrifice  too  great  to  be  made.  I  do  not  think 
I  have  made  what  should  be  called  great  sacrifices,  but  I 
am  using  the  phrase  as  it  is  often  used,  and  I  am  conscious 
that,  in  some  respects,  I  have  tasked  myself  too  hard.  I 
feel  that  I  have  grown  old  beyond  my  years.  Even  the 
last  year  has  added  greatly  to  my  gray  hairs.  I  have 
been  spending  my  strength  too  rapidly,  and  I  have  often 
neglected  to  apply  to  Him  for  strength  of  whom  Isaiah 
says,  'He  giveth  power  to  the  faint;  and  to  them  that 
have  no  might  he  in  crease  th  strength.'  How  beautiful 
and  precious  is  the  promise  to  those  who  wait  upon  the 
Lord  !  When  c  even  the  youths  shall  faint  and  be  weary, 
and  the  young  men  shall  utterly  fall ' ;  '  they  that  wait 
upon  the  Lord  shall  renew  their  strength,  they  shall 
mount  up  with  wings,  as  eagles,  they  shall  run  and  not 
be  weary,  they  shall  walk  and  not  faint.'  Oh,  if  we 
could  live  by  faith,  the  difficulties  and  the  trials  of  the 
way  would  not  greatly  trouble  or  distress  us." 

In  the  spring  of  1844,  Robert  and  Agnes  Hopkins 
came  down  from  Lac-qui-parle,  and,  for  the  next  seven 
years,  were  identified  with  the  missionary  work  at  Tra 
verse  des  Sioux.  The  opposition  to  our  remaining  grad 
ually  died  away  and  was  lived  down.  Louis  Provencalle, 
the  trader,  alias  Le  Bland,  had  probably  tried  to  carry 
water  on  both  shoulders,  but  he  was  thoroughly  con 
verted  to  our  friendship  by  an  accident  which  happened 
to  himself.  The  old  gentleman  was  carrying  corn,  in 
strings,  into  his  upper  chamber  by  an  outside  ladder. 
With  a  load  of  this  corn  on  his  back,  he  fell  and  caught 
on  his  picket  fence,  the  sharp-pointed  wood  making  a 
terrible  hole  in  his  flesh.  For  months  I  visited  him 
almost  daily  and  dressed  bis  wound,  He  recovered,  and, 


FORTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          115 

although  he  was  not  the  less  a  Romanist,  he  and  his  fam 
ily  often  came  to  our  meetings,  and  were  our  fast  friends. 
Perhaps  some  seeds  of  truth  were  then  sown,  which  bore 
fruit  in  the  family  a  score  of  years  afterward. 

Thus  we  had,  occasionally,  an  opportunity  to  help  a 
fellow  white  man  in  trouble.  It  was  one  Saturday  in  the 
early  part  of  September,  while  we  were  at  work  on  our 
school-house,  that  an  Indian  runner  came  in  from  Swan 
Lake,  to  tell  us  that  a  "ghost "  had  come  to  their  camp. 
A  white  man  had  come  in  in  the  most  forlorn  and  desti 
tute  condition.  The  story  is  well  told  by  Mary  in  her 
letters  home. 

"  TK AVERSE  DES  Sioux,  Oct.  10,  1844. 

"We  have  just  returned  in  safety,  after  spending  a 
week  very  pleasantly  and  profitably  at  Lac-qui-parle.  An 
armed  force,  from  Forts  Snelling  and  Atkinson,  have  re 
cently  passed  up  to  Lake  Traverse,  to  obtain  the  mur 
derers  of  an  American  killed  by  a  Sisseton  war-party 
this  summer. 

"The  circumstances  of  the  murder  were  very  aggra 
vating,  as  communicated  to  us  by  the  only  known  sur 
vivor.  A  gentleman  from  the  State  of  Missouri,  Turner 
by  name,  with  three  men,  were  on  their  way  to  Fort 
Snelling  with  a  drove  of  cattle  for  the  Indians.  Being 
unacquainted  with  the  country,  they  wandered  to  the 
north-west,  when  they  were  met  by  a  war-party  of  Sisseton 
Sioux,  returning  from  an  unsuccessful  raid  upon  the 
Ojibwas.  Finding  them  where  they  did,  on  their  way 
apparently  to  the  Red  River  of  the  North,  they  supposed 
they  belonged  to  that  settlement,  with  whom  they  had  re 
cently  had  a  quarrel  about  hunting  buffalo.  And  so  they 
commenced  to  treat  these  white  men  roughly,  demanding 


116  MARY    AND    I. 

their  horses,  guns,  and  clothes.  One  man  resisted  and 
was  killed,  the  others  were  robbed.  Shirts,  drawers,  hats, 
and  vests  were  all  that  were  left  them.  Some  of  the 
cattle  were  killed,  and  the  rest  fled.  One  of  the  Ameri 
cans,  with  some  Indians,  were  sent  after  them,  but  he 
made  his  escape,  and  was  never  heard  of  again.  The 
next  morning,  the  other  two  were  permitted  to  leave,  but 
the  only  requests  they  made,  for  their  coats,  a  knife,  and  a 
life-preserver,  were  not  granted. 

"  The  second  and  third  day  after  this  escape,  they  saw 
the  cattle,  and  if  only  a  knife  had  been  spared  them,  they 
might  have  supplied  themselves  with  provisions,  but  as 
they  were,  it  was  safest,  they  thought,  to  hasten  on.  On 
the  fourth  day  they  came  to  a  stream  too  deep  to  ford, 
and  Turner  could  not  swim.  Poor  Bennett  attempted  to 
swim  with  him,  but  was  drawn  under  several  times,  and, 
to  save  his  own  life,  was  obliged  to  disengage  himself 
from  Turner,  who  was  drowned.  Bennett  came  on  alone 
five  days,  finding  nothing  to  eat  but  hazel-nuts,  when  at 
length  he  came  in  sight  of  the  Sioux  Lodges  at  Swan 
Lake.  He  lay  awake  that  night  deliberating  whether  he 
should  go  to  them  or  not.  '  If  I  went,'  he  said,  '  I  ex 
pected  they  would  kill  me ;  if  I  did  not  go,  I  knew  I 
must  die,  and  I  concluded  to  go,  for  I  could  but  die.' 

"  The  next  morning  he  tottered  toward  the  Sioux  camp. 
Ever  and  anon  he  stopped  and  hid  in  the  grass.  The 
Dakotas  watched  his  movements.  Some  young  men  went 
out  to  meet  him,  but  Bennett  was  afraid  of  them,  and 
tried  to  crawl  away.  When  the  old  man  Sleepy  Eyes 
himself  came  in  sight,  his  benevolent,  honest  counte 
nance  assured  the  young  white  man,  and  he  staggered 
toward  the  Dakota  chief.  His  confidence  was  not  mis 
placed.  Sleepy  Eyes  took  the  wanage  ghost,  as  they 


FOKTY   YEAES    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  117 

called  him,  to  his  tent,  and  his  daughter  made  bread  for 
him  of  flour,  which  the  old  man  had  bought  of  us  a  few 
days  before  ;  and  Bennett  declared  he  never  ate  such 
good  bread  in  his  life.  Mr.  Riggs  brought  him  home, 
for  which  he  said  he  was  willing  to  be  his  servant  for 
ever.  We  furnished  him  with  such  clothing  as  we  had, 
and  after  three  weeks  recruiting  we  sent  him  home.  At 
Fort  Snelling,  he  was  furnished  with  money  to  go  to  his 
parents,  whom  he  had  left  without  their  consent. 

"  Since  our  return  from  Lac-qui-parle,  the  Indians  have 
been  drunk  less  than  for  some  time  before.  At  one  time 
quite  a  number  of  men  came  in  a  body  and  demanded 
powder,  which  Mr.  Riggs  intended  giving  them.  I  but 
toned  the  door  to  prevent  their  entrance,  as  Mr.  Riggs 
was  not  in  at  the  moment,  but  the  button  flew  into  pieces 
as  the  sinewy  arm  of  Tankamane  pressed  the  latch. 
Some  of  the  party  were  but  slightly  intoxicated.  Those 
Mr.  Riggs  told  positively  that  he  should  not  listen  to  a 
request  made  by  drunken  men,  notwithstanding  their 
threatening  '  to  soldier  kill '  him  —  that  is,  to  kill  his 
horse.  Tankamane  was  so  drunk  that  he  would  not  be 
silent  enough  to  hear,  until  Mr.  R.  covered  his  mouth 
with  his  hand  and  commanded  him  to  be  still,  and  then 
assured  them  that  he  was  not  ready  to  give  them  the 
powder,  and  that  they  had  better  go  home,  which  they 
did  soon. 

"  I  am  not  usually  much  alarmed,  though  often  con 
siderably  excited.  Some  Sabbaths  since,  a  party  of 
Indians  brought  a  keg  of  whiskey,  and  proposed  drinking 
it  in  our  new  building,  which  is  intended  for  a  chapel 
and  school-room.  But  the  Lord  ^did  not  permit  this 
desecration.  One  of  their  number  objected  to  the  plan, 
and  they  drank  it  outside  the  door." 


118  MARY    AND   I. 

When  our  school-house  was  erected  and  partly  finished, 
our  efforts  at  teaching  took  on  more  of  regularity.  It 
was  a  more  convenient  room  to  hold  our  Sabbath  service 
in.  In  religious  teaching,  as  well  as  in  the  school,  Mr. 
Hopkins  was  an  indefatigable  worker.  He  learned  the 
language  slowly  but  well.  Often  he  made  visits  to 
the  Indian  camps  miles  away.  When  the  Dakotas  of 
that  neighborhood  abstained  for  a  while  from  drinking, 
we  became  encouraged  to  think  that  some  good  impres 
sions  were  being  made  upon  them.  But  there  would 
come  a  new  flooding  of  spirit  water,  and  a  revival  of 
drinking.  Thus  our  hopes  were  blasted. 

"  TRAVERSE  DES  Sioux,  March  15,  1845. 
"  At  the  present  time  our  Indian  neighbors  are  absent, 
some  at  their  sugar  camps,  and  others  hunting  musk-rats. 
Thus  far  the  season  has  not  been  favorable  for  making 
sugar,  and  we  have  purchased  but  a  few  pounds,  giving 
in  return  flour  or  corn,  of  which  we  have  but  little,  to 
spare.  Last  spring,  we  procured  our  year's  supply  from 
the  Indians,  and  for  the  most  of  it  we  gave  calico  in 
exchange.  Not  for  our  sakes,  but  for  the  sake  of  our 
ragged  and  hungry  neighbors,  I  should  rejoice  in  their 
having  an  abundant  supply.  They  eat  sugar,  during  the 
season,  as  freely  as  we  eat  bread,  and  what  they  do  not 
need  for  food  they  can  exchange  for  clothing.  But  they 
will  have  but  little  for  either,  unless  the  weather  is  more 
favorable  the  last  half  than  it  has  been  the  first  part  of 
this  month.  And  they  are  so  superstitious  that  some, 
I  presume,  will  attribute  the  unpropitious  sky  and  wind 
to  our  influence.  Mr.  Hopkins  visited  several  camps 
about  ten  miles  distant,  soon  after  the  first  and  thus  far 
the  only  good  sugar  weather.  One  woman  said  to  him, 


FORTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.         119 

'  You  visited  us  last  winter ;  before  you  came  there 
were  a  great  many  deer,  but  afterward  none ;  and  now 
we  have  made  some  sugar,  but  you  have  come,  and 
perhaps  we  shall  make  no  more.' " 

"  June  23,  1845. 
"  My  Dear  Mother :  — 

"  Having  put  our  missionary  cabin  in  order  for  the 
reception  of  Captains  Sumner  and  Allen,  and  Dr. 
Nichols,  of  the  army,  I  am  reminded  of  home.  I  have 
not  made  half  the  preparation  which  you  used  to  make 
to  receive  military  company,  and  I  could  not  if  I  would, 
neither  would  I  if  I  could.  I  do,  however,  sometimes 
wish  it  afforded  me  more  pleasure  to  receive  such  guests, 
when  they  occasionally  pass  through  the  country.  We 
have  so  many  uncivilized  and  so  few  civilized,  and  our 
circumstances  are  such  that  I  almost  shrink  from  trying 
to  entertain  company.  I  sometimes  think  that  even 
mother,  with  all  her  hospitality,  would  become  a  little 
selfish  if  her  kitchen,  parlor,  and  dining-room  were 
all  one." 

This  was  the  second  military  expedition  made  to  secure 
the  offenders  of  the  Sisseton  war-party.  The  one  made 
in  the  fall  of  1844  secured  five  Indians,  but  not  the  ones 
considered  most  guilty.  But  they  made  their  escape  on 
the  way  down  to  Traverse  des  Sioux.  The  expedition, 
to  which  reference  is  made  above,  was  more  successful. 
The  Indians  pledged  themselves  to  deliver  up  the  guilty 
men.  They  did  so.  Four  men  were  delivered  up  and 
taken  down  to  Dubuque,  Iowa,  where  they  were  kept  in 
confinement  until  winter.  Then  they  were  permitted  to 
escape,  and,  strange  to  say,  three  of  them  died  while 
making  their  way  back,  and  one  lived  to  reach  his 


^  MARY    AND    T. 

friends.  It  was  very  remarkable  that  three  Indians 
should  be  placed  over  against  three  white  men  in  the 
outcome  of  Providence. 

"  Aug.  15,  1845. 

"  Our  garden  enclosure  extends  around  the  back  side 
and  both  ends  of  our  mission  house,  while  in  front  is  a 
double  log  cabin,  with  a  porch  between.  Back  of  the 
porch  we  have  a  very  small  bedroom,  which  our  chil 
dren  now  occupy,  and  back  of  our  cabin,  as  it  was  first 
erected,  we  have  a  larger  bedroom,  which,  by  way  of 
distinction,  we  call  the  nursery.  The  door  from  this 
room  opens  into  the  garden.  The  room  does  not  extend 
half  the  length  of  the  double  log  cabin,  so  that  Mr. 
Hopkins  has  a  room  corresponding  with  our  nursery,  and 
then,  between  the  two  wings,  we  have  two  small  win 
dows,  one  in  the  children's  bedroom,  and  the  other  in 
our  family-room.  Shading  the  latter  are  Alfred's 
morning-glories  and  a  rose-bush.  A  shoot  from  this 
wild  rose  has  often  attracted  my  attention,  as,  day  after 
day,  it  has  continued  its  upward  course.  It  is  now  seven 
feet  high  —  the  growth  of  a  single  season  —  and  is  still 
aspiring  to  be  higher.  Bowed  beneath  it  is  a  sister 
stalk  laden  with  rose-buds.  Last  year  it  was  trampled 
upon  by  drunken  Indians,  but  now  our  fence  affords  us 
some  protection,  and  we  flattered  ourselves  that  our 
pumpkins  and  squashes  would  be  unmolested.  But  we 
found,  to  our  surprise,  one  day,  that  our  garden  had  been 
stripped  of  the  larger  pumpkins  the  night  previous. 
Our  situation  here,  at  a  point  where  the  roving  sons  of 
the  prairie  congregate,  exposes  us  to  annoyances  of  this 
kind  more  frequently  than  at  other  stations  among  the 
Sioux.  I  can  sympathize  very  fully  with  Moffat  in  like 
grievances,  which  he  mentions  in  his  '  Southern  Africa.'  " 


FORTY   YEARS   WITH   THE    SIOUX.  121 

9 

11  Jan.  29,  1846. 

"  For  several  Sabbaths  past  we  have  had  a  small  con 
gregation.  It  encourages  us  somewhat  to  see  even  a  few 
induced  to  listen  for  a  short  time  to  the  truths  of  the 
Gospel.  But  our  chief  encouragement  is  in  God's  unfail 
ing  promises.  The  Indians  here  usually  sit  during  the 
whole  service,  and  sometimes  smoke  several  times. 

"  For  some  weeks  I  have  been  teaching  the  female  part 
of  our  school.  Some  days  half  a  dozen  black-eyed  girls 
come,  and  then,  again,  only  one  or  two.  Their  parents 
tell  them  that  we  ought  to  pay  them  for  coming  to 
school,  and,  although  there  have  been  no  threats  of 
cutting  up  the  blankets  of  those  who  read,  as  there  was 
last  winter,  they  are  still  ridiculed  and  reproached.  We 
have  in  various  ways  endeavored  to  reward  them  for 
regular  attendance,  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  favor  the 
idea  that  we  were  hiring  them." 

In  the  spring  of  1846,  Mary  wanted  to  get  away  for  a 
little  rest.  We  fitted  up  a  canoe,  and,  with  a  young  man 
of  the  fur-trade,  we  started  down  the  Minnesota.  Mary 
had  her  baby,  our  fourth  child,  whose  name  was  Anna 
Jane.  We  had  scarcely  well  started  when  we  met 
drunken  Indians.  Their  canoe  was  laden  with  kegs  of 
whiskey,  and  they  were  on  shore  cooking.  They  called 
to  us  to  come  over  and  give  them  some  food ;  but  wo 
passed  by  on  the  other  side.  One  man  raised  his  gun 
and  poured  into  us  a  volley  of  buckshot.  Fortunately, 
Mary  and  the  baby  were  not  touched.  The  canoe  and 
the  rest  of  us  were  somewhat  sprinkled,  but  not  seriously 
hurt. 

That  canoe  voyage  was  continued  down  the  Mississippi 
River  as  far  as  Red  Wing.  At  Mr.  Pond's  station  we 


122  MARY    AND    I. 

% 

took  in  Jane  Lamonte,  afterward  Mrs.  Titus.  Where 
the  city  of  St.  Paul  now  is,  we  made  a  short  stop,  and  I 
hunted  up  one  of  our  Dakota  church  members,  the  wife 
of  a  Frenchman.  A  half  a  dozen  log  houses,  one  here 
and  one  there,  made  up  the  St.  Paul  of  that  day.  At 
Pine  Bend,  Mr.  Brown  left  us.  After  that,  the  rowing 
was  heavy,  and  the  muscles  were  light.  Just  above  the 
mouth  of  the  St.  Croix,  we  found  a  house,  where  we 
spent  the  night  comfortably.  The  next  day,  we  reached 
Red  Wing,  a  Dakota  village,  or  Hay-minne-chan,  with 
much  difficulty.  We  had  to  row  against  a  strong  head 
wind,  and  I,  who  was  the  principal  oarsman,  fell  sick. 
But,  as  Providence  would  have  it,  we  came  upon  a  wood 
man,  who  took  us  to  the  village. 

Red  Wing  was  the  station  of  the  Swiss  mission,  occu 
pied  by  the  Dentans.  Mrs.  Dentan  had  been  a  teacher 
in  the  Mackinaw  mission  school.  Here  we  found  good 
Christian  friends,  and  spent  two  weeks  in  helping  them 
to  do  missionary  work.  While  we  were  there,  I  went  to 
see  a  young  man  whom  the  medicine-men  were  conjur 
ing.  The  Dakota  doctor  claimed  that  the  spirit  which 
caused  the  disease  was  greatly  enraged  at  my  presence. 
And  so,  at  their  earnest  request,  I  retired.  That  sick 
young  man  is  now  one  of  our  excellent  native  pastors. 
We  have  since  talked  over  the  event  with  much  inter 
est. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

1846-1851.  —  Returning  to  Lac-qui-parle.  —  Reasons  Therefor.  — 
Mary's  Story.  —  "  Give  Me  My  Old  Seat,  Mother."  —At  Lac- 
qui-parle.  —  New  Arrangements.  —  Better  Understanding.  — 
Buffalo  Plenty.  —  Mary's  Story.  —  Little  Samuel  Died.  —  Going 
on  the  Hunt.  — Vision  of  Home.  — Building  House.  — Dakota 
Camp.  — Soldier's  Lodge.  — Wakanmane's  Village.  — Making 
a  Presbytery.  — New  Recruits.  — Meeting  at  Kaposia.  — Mary's 
Story.  —  Varied  Trials.  —  Sabbath  Worship.  —  "  What  is  to 
Die  ?  "  —  New  Stations.  —  Making  a  Treaty.  —  Mr.  Hopkins 
Drowned.  —  Personal  Experience. 

THE  time  came  when  it  was  decided  that  Mary  and  I 
should  go  back  to  Lac-qui-parle.  The  four  years  since 
we  left  had  brought  many  changes.  They  had  been 
years  of  discouragement  and  hardship  all  along  the  line. 
The  brothers  Pond  had  built  among  the  people  of  their 
first  love  —  the  old  Lake  Calhoun  band,  now  located  a 
short  distance  up  from  the  mouth  of  the  Minnesota. 
There  they  had  a  few  who  came  regularly  to  worship  and 
i<>  learn  the  Way  of  Life.  But  the  mass  of  the  people  of 
Cloud  Man's  village  were  either  indifferent  or  opposed  to 
the  Gospel  of  Christ. 

At  Lac-qui-parle,  where  had  been  the  best  seed-sowing 
and  harvesting  for  the  first  seven  years,  the  work  had 
gone  backward.  Bad  corn  years  had  driven  some  of  the 
native  Christians  to  take  refuge  among  the  annuity  Ind 
ians  of  the  Mississippi.  Temptations  of  various  kinds 
had  drawn  away  others  —  they  had  stumbled  and  fallen. 

123 


124  MARY    AND   I. 

Persecutions  from  the  heathen  party  had  deterred 
others,  and  some  had  fallen  asleep  in  Christ.  Among 
these  last  was  Mr.  Joseph  Renville,  who  had  stood  l>y 
the  work  from  the  beginning.  He  had  passed  away  in 
the  month  of  March ;  and  thus  the  Lac-qui-parle  church 
was  reduced  to  less  than  half  its  members  of  four  years 
ago. 

Out  of  this  church  there  had  gone  a  half  a  dozen  or  so, 
chiefly  women,  down  to  Kaposia,  or  Little  Crow's  village, 
which  was  on  the  Mississippi,  a  few  miles  below  the  site 
of  St.  Paul.  Through  them,  more  than  any  other  influ 
ence  perhaps,  there  came  an  invitation,  from  Little  Crow 
and  the  head  men  of  the  village,  to  Dr.  Williamson, 
through  the  Indian  agent  at  Fort  Snelling,  to  come  down 
and  open  a  school  and  a  mission.  This  application  was 
considered  at  the  meeting  of  the  Dakota  mission  held  at 
the  Traverse,  and  the  voices  were  in  favor  of  acceptance. 
But  if  Dr.  Williamson  left  Lac-qui-parle,  that  involved 
the  necessity  of  our  returning  thither.  This  proposition 
Mary  could  not  entertain  willingly.  True,  the  work  at 
the  Traverse  had  been  full  of  hardships  and  suffering,  but 
the  very  sufferings  and  sorrows,  and  especially  that  great 
first  sorrow,  had  strongly  wedded  her  affections  to  the 
place  and  the  people.  It  was  hard  to  leave  those  Oaks 
of  Weeping.  She  could  not  see  that  it  was  right ;  still, 
she  would  not  refuse  to  obey  orders. 

And  so  the  month  of  September,  1846,  found  us  travel 
ling  over  the  same  road  that  we  had  gone  on  our  first 
journey,  just  nine  years  before.  Then  we  two  had  gone; 
now  we  had  with  us  our  four  little  ones,  but  it  was  a  sad 
journey.  The  mother's  heart  was  not  convinced,  nor 
was  it  satisfied  we  had  done  right,  until  some  time  after 
we  reached  Lac-qui-parle. 


FORTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          125 


"  TK AVERSE  DES  Sioux,  Sept.  17,  1846. 

"  This  is  probably  the  last  letter  I  shall  write  you  from 
this  spot  so  dear  to  us.  If  I  could  see  that  it  was  duty 
to  go,  it  would  cheer  me  in  the  preparations  for  our  de 
parture,  but  I  cannot  feel  that  the  interests  of  the  mis 
sion  required  such  a  sacrifice  as  leaving  this  home  is  to 
me. 

"  These  are  some  of  the  thoughts  that  darken  the 
prospect,  when  I  think  of  leaving  the  comforts  and  con 
veniences  which  we  have  only  enjoyed  one  or  two  short 
summers  —  such  as  the  enclosure  for  our  children  —  our 
rude  back  porch  which  has  served  for  a  kitchen,  the  door 
into  which  I  helped  Mr.  Riggs  saw  with  a  cross-cut  saw, 
because  he  could  get  no  one  to  help  him.  We  located 
here  in  the  midst  of  opposition  and  danger,  yet  God 
made  our  enemies  to  be  at  peace  with  us.  Sad  will  be 
the  hour  when  I  take  the  last  look  of  our  low  log  cabins, 
our  neat  white  chapel,  and  dear  Thomas'  grave." 

"  LAC-QUI-PARLE,  Dec.  10,  1846. 

"  How  pleasant  it  would  be,  dear  mother,  to  join  your 
little  circle  around  home's  hearth ;  but  it  is  vain  to  wish, 
and  so  I  take  my  pen,  that  this  transcript  of  my  heart 
may  enter  where  I  cannot.  In  one  of  the  late  New 
York  Observers^  I  found  a  gem  of  poetry,  which  seemed 
so  much  like  the  gushings  of  my  affection  for  my 
mother  that  I  must  send  you  the  verse  which  pleased 
me  best:  — 

"  '  Give  me  my  old  seat,  mother, 

With  my  head  upon  thy  knee ; 
I've  passed  through  many  a  changing  scene, 
Since  thus  I  sat  by  thee, 


126  MAKY    AND    I. 

"  Oh,  let  me  look  into  thine  eyes  — 

Their  meek,  soft,  loving  light 
Falls  like  a  gleam  of  holiness, 
Upon  my  heart,  to-night! ' 

"  How  very  often  have  I  found  myself  half  wishing  for 
my  old  seat,  witli  my  head  upon  thy  knee,  that  I  might 
impart  to  you  my  joys  and  my  sorrows,  and  listen  to 
your  own.  In  times  of  difficulty  and  distress,  how  I 
have  longed  for  your  counsel  and  cheering  sympathy. 
After  leaving  our  home  at  Traverse  des  Sioux  and  reach 
ing  this  place,  my  heart  yearned  to  embrace  you.  My 
associates  could  not  comprehend  why  it  should  be  so 
trying  to  me  to  leave  that  place  so  dear  to  us.  I  had 
hoped  to  live  and  die  and  be  buried  there  by  the  loved 
grave  of  Thomas.  I  had  laid  plans  for  usefulness  there, 
and  the  change  that  came  over  us  in  one  short  week,  dur 
ing  which  we  packed  all  our  effects  and  prepared  for  the 
journey,  was  so  sudden  and  so  great  that  it  often  seemed 
I  should  sink  under  it.  Had  I  been  able  to  see  it  clearly 
our  duty,  the  case  would  have  been  different.  I  hope  it 
will  prove  for  the  best.  Doubtless  I  was  too  much 
attached  to  that  burial  spot  and  that  garden  of  roses. 
Henceforth,  may  I  more  fully  realize  that  'we  have  no 
abiding  city  here,'  and,  like  a  pilgrim,  press  onward  to 
that  eternal  haven  —  that  unchanging  home — little 
mindful  where  I  pass  the  few  brief  nights  that  may  in 
tervene." 

"Dec.  16. 

"  You  will,  I  think,  feel  gratified  to  know  that  there 
are  some  things  pleasant  and  encouraging  here,  notwith 
standing  the  discouragements.  The  sound  of  the  church- 
going  bell  is  heard  here — the  bell  which  we  purchased 
with  the  avails  of  moccasins  donated  by  the  church  mem- 


FORTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          127 

bers.  Some  of  those  contributors  are  dead,  and  others 
have  backslidden  or  removed  ;  still,  there  are  more  hearers 
of  the  Word  here  than  at  Traverse  des  Sioux,  although 
the  large  majority  in  both  places  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  the 
calls  and  entreaties  of  the  Gospel.  Quite  a  number  of 
the  women  who  attend  the  Sabbath  services  can  read,  but 
some  of  them  can  not  find  the  hymns,  and  I  enjoy  very 
much  finding  the  places  for  them." 

Our  place  at  the  Traverse  was  filled  by  Mr.  A.  G.  Hug- 
gins'  family,  who  thenceforward  became  associated  with 
Mr.  Hopkins,  until  they  closed  their  connection  with  the 
mission  work.  Fanny  Huggins  had  married  Jonas  Petti- 
john,  and  they  were  our  helpers  at  Lac-qui-parle  for  the 
next  five  years. 

The  time  seemed  to  have  come  when  our  relations  to 
the  Indians  should,  if  possible,  be  placed  upon  a  better 
basis.  From  the  time  that  the  chief  men  came  to  under 
stand  that  the  religion  of  Christ  was  an  exclusive  relig 
ion,  that  it  would  require  the  giving  up  of  their  ancestral 
faith,  they  set  themselves  in  opposition  to  it.  Sometimes 
this  was  shown  in  their  persecution  of  the  native  Chris 
tians,  forbidding  them  to  attend  our  meetings,  and  cutting 
up  the  blankets  of  those  who  came.  Sometimes  it  was 
exhibited  in  the  order  that  the  children  should  not  attend 
school.  But  the  organized  determination  to  drive  us 
from  the  country  showed  itself  most  decidedly  in  killing 
our  cattle.  We  could  not  continue  in  the  country,  and 
make  ourselves  comfortable,  without  a  team  of  some 
kind.  This,  then,  was  to  be  their  policy.  They  would 
kill  our  cattle.  They  would  steal  our  horses.  And  they 
had  so  persistently  held  to  this  line  of  treatment,  during 
the  last  four  years,  that  Dr.  Williamson  and  his  associ- 


128  MARY    AND    I. 

ates  had  with  difficulty  kept  a  team  of  any  kind.  Once 
they  were  obliged  to  hitch  up  milch  cows  to  haul  fire 
wood. 

The  Indians  said  we  were  trespassers  in  their  country, 
and  they  had  a  right  to  take  reprisals.  We  used  their 
wood  and  their  water,  and  pastured  our  animals  on  their 
grass,  and  gave  them  no  adequate  pay.  We  had  helped 
them  get  larger  corn-patches  by  ploughing  for  them,  we 
had  furnished  food  and  medicines  to  their  sick  ones,  we 
had  often  clothed  their  naked  ones,  we  had  spent  and 
been  spent  in  their  service,  but  all  this  was,  in  their  esti 
mation,  no  compensation  for  the  field  we  planted,  and 
the  fuel  we  used,  and  the  grass  we  cut,  and  the  water  we 
drank.  They  were  worth  a  thousand  dollars  a  year ! 

And  so  it  seemed  to  me  the  time  had  come  when  some 
better  understanding  should  be  reached  in  regard  to 
these  things.  I  called  the  principal  men  of  the  village  — 
Oo-pe-ya-hdaya,  Inyangmane,  and  Wakanmane,  and 
others  —  and  told  them  that,  as  Dr.  Williamson  was  called 
away  by  the  Lower  Indians,  my  wife  and  I  had  been  sent 
back  to  Lac-qui-parle,  but  we  would  stay  only  on  certain 
conditions.  We  knew  them  and  they  knew  us.  If  we 
could  stay  with  them  as  friends,  and  be  treated  as  friends, 
we  would  stay.  We  came  to  teach  them  and  their  chil 
dren.  But  if  then,  or  at  any  time  afterward,  we  learned 
that  the  whole  village  did  not  want  us  to  stay,  we  would 
go  home  to  our  friends.  For  the  help  we  gave  them  the 
water  we  used  must  be  free,  the  wood  to  keep  us  warm 
must  be  free,  the  grass  our  cattle  ate  must  be  free,  and 
the  field  we  planted  must  be  free ;  but  when  we  wanted 
their  best  timber  to  build  houses  with,  which  we  should 
do,  I  would  pay  them  liberally  for  it.  This  arrangement 
they  said  was  satisfactory,  and  soon  afterward  we  bought 


FOKTY    YEA.KS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  129 

from  them  the  timber  we  used  in  erecting  two  frame 
houses. 

From  this  time  onward  we  did  not  suffer  so  much  from 
cattle-killing,  though  it  has  always  been  an  incident 
attaching  to  mission  life  among  the  Indians.  For  the 
years  that  followed  we  were  generally  treated  as  friends. 
Sometimes  there  was  a  breeze  of  opposition,  some  wanted 
us  to  go  away,  but  we  always  had  friends  who  stood  by 
us.  And  they  were  not  always  of  the  same  party.  The 
results  of  mission  work  began  to  be  seen  in  the  young 
men  who  grew  up,  many  of  them  desirous  of  adopting,  in 
part  at  least,  the  habits  and  the  dress  of  the  whites. 

There  was  another  reason  for  a  cessation  of  hostilities 
on  their  part ;  viz.,  that  starvation  did  not  so  much  stare 
them  in  the  face.  They  had  better  corn  crops  than  for 
some  years  previous.  And,  besides  this,  for  two  seasons 
the  buffalo  range  was  extended  down  the  Minnesota  far 
below  Lac-qui-parle.  For  many  years  they  had  been  far 
away,  west  of  Lake  Traverse.  Now  they  came  back,  and 
for  two  winters  our  Indians  revelled  in  fresh  buffalo  meat, 
their  children  and  dogs  even  growing  fat.  And  the  buf 
falo  robes  gave  them  the  means  of  clothing  their  families 
comfortably. 

Sometimes  the  herds  of  bison  came  into  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  the  village.  One  morning  it  was  found 
that  a  large  drove  had  slept  on  the  prairie  but  a  little 
distance  back  of  our  mission  houses.  Mr.  Martin  Mc- 
Leod,  the  trader,  and  a  few  others  organized  a  hunt  on 
horseback.  There  was  snow  on  the  ground,  I  hitched 
our  ponies  to  a  rude  sled,  and  we  went  to  the  show.  As 
the  hunters  came  into  the  herd  and  began  to  shoot  them, 
the  excitement  increased  in  our  sled  —  the  ponies  could 
not  go  fast  enough  for  the  lady. 


130  MARY    AND    I. 

We  now  addressed  ourselves  afresh  to  the  work  of 
teaching  and  preaching.  The  day-school  filled  up.  We 
took  some  children  into  our  families.  The  young  men 
who  had  learned  to  read  and  write  when  they  were  boys, 
came  and  wanted  to  learn  something  of  arithmetic  and 
geography.  In  the  work  of  preaching  I  began  to  feel 
more  freedom  and  joy.  There  had  been  times  when  the 
Dakota  language  seemed  to  be  barren  and  meaningless. 
The  words  for  Salvation  and  Life,  and  even  Death  and 
Sin,  did  not  mean  what  they  did  in  English.  It  was  not 
to  me  a  heart-language.  But  this  passed  away.  A  Da 
kota  word  began  to  thrill  as  an  English  word.  Christ 
came  into  the  language.  The  Holy  Spirit  began  to  pour 
sweetness  and  power  into  it.  Then  it  was  not  exhaust 
ing,  as  it  sometimes  had  been  —  it  became  a  joy  to  preach. 


"  LAC-QUI-PARLE,  May  17,  1847. 

"  Since  Mr.  Riggs  left  home,  two  weeks  to-day,  I  have 
had  a  double  share  of  wants  to  supply.  I  could  almost 
wish  he  had  locked  up  the  medicine-case  and  taken  the 
key  with  him,  for  I  have  not  so  much  confidence  in  my 
skill  as  to  suppose  the  Indians  would  have  suffered  if  it 
had  been  out  of  my  power  to  satisfy  their  wants.  I  pur 
posed  only  giving  rhubarb  and  a  few  other  simples,  but  I 
have  been  besieged  until  I  have  yielded,  and  have  no 
relief  to  hope  for  until  Mr.  Riggs  returns. 

"  In  addition  to  the  medicines,  there  has  been  a  greafc 
demand  for  garden-seeds,  to  say  nothing  of  the  common 
wants  of  a  little  thread,  or  soap,  or  patches  for  a  ragged 
short-gown,  or  a  strip  of  white  cloth  for  the  head  to  en- 
able  them  to  kill  ducks  or  buffalo,  as  the  case  may  be. 
There  is  scarcely  any  view  of  God's  character  that  gives 


FORTY   YEAES    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  131 

me  so  clear  an  apprehension  of  his  infinite  goodness  and 
power  as  that  of  his  kind  care  of  his  sinful  creatures. 
He  listens  to  their  requests,  and  giving  doth  not  impov 
erish,  neither  doth  withholding  enrich  him." 

"May  26. 

"  This  afternoon  twenty-six  armed  Indian  men  paraded 
before  the  door  and  discharged  their  guns.  I  was  a  little 
startled  at  first,  but  soon  learned  that  they  had  been  in 
search  of  Chippewas  that  were  supposed  to  be  concealed 
near  by,  and  that  they  had  returned  unsuccessful,  and 
were  merely  indulging  in  a  little  military  exercise." 

"  Jan.  11,  1848. 

"  The  last  Sabbath  in  December,  Mr.  Riggs  spent  at  an 
Indian  encampment  about  sixteen  miles  from  this  place. 
When  he  left  home,  baby  Samuel,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Petti- 
john's  only  child,  was  ill,  but  we  did  not  apprehend  dan 
gerously  so ;  when  he  returned  on  Monday  noon,  little 
Samuel  was  dead.  This  has  been  a  severe  affliction  to 
them.  Why  was  this  first-born  and  only  son  taken,  and 
our  five  children  spared,  is  a  query  that  often  arises. 

"  Some  weeks  ago,  an  elderly  woman  with  a  young  babe 
begged  me  for  clothing  for  the  little  one.  I  asked  her  if 
it  was  her  child.  She  replied  that  it  was  her  grandchild, 
that  its  mother  died  last  summer,  and  that  she  had  nursed 
it  ever  since.  At  first  she  had  no  milk,  but  she  continued 
nursing  it,  until  the  milk  flowed  for  the  little  orphan. 
This,  thought  I,  is  an  evidence  of  a  grandmother's  love 
not  often  witnessed.  I  felt  very  compassionate  for  the 
baby,  and  gave  the  grandmother  some  old  clothing. 
After  she  left,  a  knife  was  missing,  which  seemed  rather 


132  MARY    AND    I. 

like  a  gypsy's  compensation  for  the  kindness  received. 
But  perhaps  she  was  not  the  thief,  as  our  house  was  then 
thronged  with  visitors  from  morning  till  night.  We  en 
deavor  to  keep  such  things  as  they  will  be  tempted  to 
steal  out  of  their  reach,  but  a  mother  can  not  watch  three 
or  four  children,  and  perform  necessary  household  duties 
at  the  same  time,  without  sometimes  affording  an  oppor 
tunity  for  a  cunning  hand  to  slip  away  a  pair  of  scissors 
or  a  knife  unnoticed. 

"  The  buffalo  are  about  us  in  large  herds.  I  have  just 
taken  a  ride  of  four  or  five  miles  to  see  these  natives  of 
the  prairie.  Before  the  herd  perceived  our  approach,  they 
were  quietly  standing  together,  but,  on  perceiving  us, 
they  waited  a  moment  for  consultation,  and  then  started 
bounding  away.  Those  who  wrere  prepared  for  the  chase 
entered  their  ranks,  and  then  the  herd  separated  into  three 
or  four  parts,  and  scampered  for  life  in  as  many  different 
directions.  Several  were  killed  arid  dressed,  and  we 
brought  home  the  huge  head  of  one  for  the  children  to 
see,  besides  the  tongue  and  some  meat,  which  were  given 
us  as  our  share  of  the  spoils." 

"  May  25,  1848. 

"  How  very  quiet  and  green  I  think  those  lanes  are  — 
no  noise  except  the  whispering  winds  in  those  beautiful 
elms  and  maples ;  and  those  still  rooms,  where  rang  the 
merry  shout  of  children  returned  from  school.  I  could 
almost  fancy  they  would  look  as  sober  and  sombre  as 
those  dark  firs  under  which  we  played  when  we  and  they 
were  small.  They  still  are  young  and  vigorous,  for  aught 
I  know,  but  we,  alas !  are  young  no  longer.  Do  the  lilacs 
and  roses  and  snowballs  still  bloom  as  brightly  as  ever  ? 
But  the  thought  of  those  bright  and  beautiful  scenes 


FOETY    YEAES    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  133 

makes  me  sad,  and  I  wish  to  write  a  cheering  letter,  so 
good-by  to  the  visions  of  departed  joys. 

"  We  are  building,  this  summer,  a  plain,  snug,  one-story 
house,  with  a  sitting-room,  kitchen,  and  two  bedrooms  on 
the  lower  floor,  and  two  rooms  above,  if  ever  they  should 
be  completed.  We  have  been  hoping  to  have  a  young 
lady  to  assist  in  teaching,  etc.,  for  an  occupant  of  one  of 
our  bedrooms,  but  the  prospect  is  rather  discouraging. 
And  yet  I  feel  that  it  is  no  more  so  than  we  deserve,  for 
I  have  not  exercised  faith  in  this  respect.  I  have,  how 
ever,  some  hope  that  He  *  who  is  able  to  do  exceeding 
abundantly,  above  all  that  we  ask  or  think,'  will  send  us 
such  fellow-laborers  as  we  need." 

During  these  two  buffalo  winters,  almost  the  whole  vil 
lage  removed  up  to  the  Pom  me  de  Terre,  or  Owobaptay 
River  as  the  Dakotas  called  it.  That  was  a  better  point 
to  hunt  from.  For  the  regulation  of  the  hunt,  and  to 
prevent  the  buffalo  from  being  driven  off,  they  organized 
a  Soldiers1  Lodge.  This  was  a  large  tent  pitched  in  the 
centre  of  the  camp,  where  the  symbols  of  power  were 
kept  in  two  bundles  of  red  and  black  sticks.  These  rep 
resented  .the  soldiers — those  who  had  killed  enemies  and 
those  who  had  not.  To  this  tent  the  women  brought 
offerings  of  wood  and  meat ;  and  here  the  young  and  old 
men  often  gathered  to  feast,  and  from  these  headquarters 
went  forth,  through  an  Eyanpaha  (cryer),  the  edicts  of 
the  wise  men. 

For  these  two  winters,  I  arranged  to  spend  every  alter 
nate  Sabbath  at  the  camp,  going  up  on  Saturday  and  re- 
t  urning  on  Monday.  This  soldiers'  tent  was,  from  the 
first,  placed  at  my  disposal  for  Sabbath  meetings.  It 
was  an  evidence  of  a  great  change  in  the  general  feeling 


134  MARY    AND   I. 

of  the  village  toward  Christianity.  It  was  a  public 
recognition  of  it.  All  were  not  Christians  by  any  means  ; 
but  the  following  was  honorable  and  honored,  and  we 
usually  had  a  crowded  tent.  Our  evening  meetings  were 
held  in  the  tent  of  one  of  our  church  members.  So  the 
Word  of  God  grew  in  Dakota  soil. 

Where  the  village  of  Lac-qui-parle  now  stands  is  the 
site  of  Wakanmane's  planting-place  and  village  of  those 
days.  In  one  of  the  summer  bark  houses,  we  were  ac 
customed  to  hold  a  week-day  meeting.  Our  mission  was 
three  miles  from  there,  and  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Minnesota ;  but  it  was  only  a  pleasant  walk  of  a  summer 
day,  and  I  was  sure  to  find  a  little  company,  chiefly 
women,  of  from  half  a  dozen  to  a  dozen  present.  After 
two  years'  absence,  Dr.  Williamson  returned  to  Lac-qui- 
parle  on  a  visit,  and  remarked  that  he  had  found  no  meet 
ings  among  the  Dakotas  so  stimulating  and  encouraging 
as  that  weekly  prayer-meeting.  I  have  since  spent  a 
Sabbath,  and  worshipped  with  white  people  on  the  same 
spot.  It  seemed  like  Jacob  coming  back  to  Bethel,  where 
the  angels  of  God  had  been. 

There  were  still  few  things  to  encourage,  and  many  to 
discourage,  all  through  the  Dakota  field;  but  it  began  to 
appear  to  us  that  if  our  forces  could  be  doubled,  the 
work,  with  God's  blessing,  might  be  pushed  forward  suc 
cessfully.  And  so  the  Dakota  Presbytery,  which  was 
organized  in  1845,  proceeded  to  license  and  ordain 
Gideon  H.  Pond  and  Robert  Hopkins  as  ministers  of  the 
Gospel.  They  had  both  been  working  in  this  line  for 
years,  and  it  was  fit  that  they  should  now  be  properly 
recognized  as  fellow-laborers  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord. 

The  American  Board  was  ready  also  to  respond  to  our 
call  for  more  help.  In  the  spring  of  1848,  Rev.  M.  N. 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  135 

Adams  and  Rev.  John  F.  Alton  were  sent  up  from  Ohio 
and  Illinois  ;  and,  later  in  the  season,  Rev.  Joshua  Potter 
came  from  the  Cherokee  country.  Our  annual  meeting 
was  held  that  year  with  Dr.  Williamson,  at  his  new  sta 
tion,  Kaposia,  a  few  miles  below  St.  Paul.  It  was  a 
meeting  of  more  than  ordinary  interest ;  not  only  on 
account  of  our  own  reinforcements,  but  because  we  met 
there  two  lady  teachers  (Gov.  Slade's  girls),  the  first  sent 
out  to  the  white  settlements  of  Minnesota.  The  toilers 
of  fourteen  years  among  the  Dakotas  now  shook  hands 
with  the  first  toilers  among  the  white  people. 

The  boy  Thomas  had  been  added  to  our  little  group  of 
children.  With  a  part  of  the  family,  Mary  now  made 
the  trip  back  to  the  Traverse,  with  a  much  gladder  heart 
than  she  had  when  coming  up  two  years  before. 


"  LAC-Ql"  PARLK,  Oct.   16,  1848. 

"This  year  the  annual  meeting  of  our  mission  was  at 
Kaposia,  the  station  occupied  by  Dr.  Williamson  and 
family.  I  accompanied  Mr.  Riggs  with  three  of  our 
children.  From  the  Traverse,  Mr.  Hopkins  had  arranged 
that  we  should  proceed  through  the  Big  Woods,  by 
means  of  ox-carts.  There  was  no  road  cut  yet,  and  hun 
dreds  of  large  logs  lay  across  the  path  ;  but  the  patient 
animals  worried  over  them,  and  drivers  and  riders  were 
very  weary  when,  late  at  night,  we  came  into  camp.  At 
Prairieville,  as  Tintatonwe  signifies,  where  Mr.  S.  W. 
Pond  is  located,  we  spent  the  Sabbath,  and  reached  Dr. 
Williamson's  on  Monday,  only  eight  days  from  Lac-qui- 
parle,  not  a  little  fatigued,  but  greatly  prospered  in  our 
journey.  More  truly  than  did  the  Gibeonites  could  we 
say,  '  This  our  bread  we  took  hot  for  our  provision  out 


136 


MARY    AND    I. 


of  our  houses  on  the  day  we  came  forth  to  go  unto  you ; 
but  now,  behold,  it  is  dry,  and  it  is  mouldy.' 

"  At  Kaposia  we  found  the  Messrs.  Pond,  also  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Aiton,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Adams,  who  have  recently 
joined  the  Sioux  mission.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hopkins,  with 
their  three  children,  who  were  of  our  party  from  the 
Traverse,  and  ourselves  in  addition  to  Dr.  Williamson's 
family,  made  such  a  company  as  I  had  not  seen  for  a 
long  time.  The  warm  reception  we  met  with  from  so 
many  kindred  in  Christ  excited  me  almost  as  much  as 
did  the  greeting  at  home  after  five  years'  absence.  It 
reminded  me  of  that  happy  meeting,  and,  as  at  that  time, 
I  was  overpowered  with  joyful  emotions. 

"  We  passed  nearly  a  week  at  Kaposia,  and  then  set  our 
faces  homeward,  spending  a  night  at  Mr.  G.  H.  Pond's, 
at  Oak  Grove,  and  one  also  at  Mr.  Samuel  W.  Pond's,  at 
Tintatonwe.  Two  nights  we  camped  out,  and  reached 
Traverse  on  Friday  afternoon.  While  there  I  often  went 
to  brother  Thomas'  grave.  The  turf,  which  I  assisted  in 
setting,  was  very  green,  and  the  rose-bushes  were  flourish 
ing.  The  cedar  we  planted  withered,  but  a  beautiful 
one,  placed  by  Mr.  Hopkins  near  the  grave,  is  fresh  and 
verdant.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Adams  returned  with  us  to  Lac- 
qui-parle." 

"  LAC-QUI-PAKLE,  Jan.  6,  1849. 

"  The  Spirit  has  seemed  near  us,  and  we  hope  A.  is  lis 
tening  to  his  teachings.  Some  of  the  Indians  also  have 
manifested  an  inquiring  state  of  mind,  but  Satan  is  very 
busy,  and  unless  the  Lord  rescues  his  rebellious  subjects 
from  the  thraldom  of  the  devil,  I  fear  the  Holy  Spirit 
will  depart  from  us. 

"  The  same  foolish  yet  trying  accusations  are  made  — 
such  as  that  we  are  to  receive  pay  according  to  the  num- 


FOKTY    YEAKS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  137 

her  of  scholars  in  the  school  here  when  the  land  is  sold 
—  that  we  are  using  up  their  grass  and  timber  and  land, 
and  making  them  no  requital.  A  few  days  ago  the  old 
chief  and  his  brother-in-law  came  and  rehearsed  their 
supposed  claims,  and  said  that  the  Indians  were  tired 
eating  corn  and  wanted  one  of  our  remaining  cattle. 
Truly  we  can  say  that  this  earth  is  not  our  rest,  and  re 
joice  that  we  shall  not  live  here  always. 

"We  have  had  faith  to  expect  that  the  Lord  was 
about  to  '  make  bare  his  arm  '  for  the  salvation  of  these 
degraded  Indians;  and  although  the  heathen  rage,  we 
know  that  He  who  'sitteth  on  the  circle  of  the  earth  and 
the  inhabitants  thereof  are  as  grasshoppers,'  can  turn 
the  hearts  of  this  people  as  the  rivers  of  water  are 
turned." 

"  May  31,  1849. 

"  During  Mr.  Riggs'  absence,  our  worship  on  the  Sab 
bath,  both  in  Sioux  and  English,  has  consisted  of  reading 
the  Scriptures,  singing,  and  prayer.  I  have  been  grati 
fied  that  so  many  attended  the  Sioux  service  —  about 
thirty  each  Sabbath.  Anna  Jane  remarked  the  Saturday 
after  her  father  left  home,  '  We  can't  have  any  Sabbath 
because  two  men  and  one  woman  are  gone,'  referring  to 
her  papa  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Adams.  Still,  these  Sabbaths 
have  brought  to  us  privileges,  even  though  the  preached 
Word  and  the  great  congregation  have  been  wanting." 

"June  15. 

"  Mr.  Riggs  reached  home  two  weeks  ago,  and  last 
Monday  he  left  again  for  Big  Stone  Lake,  accompanied 
by  Mr.  Hopkins  of  Traverse  des  Sioux.  They  have  gone 
hoping  for  opportunities  to  proclaim  the  Word  of  God  to 
the  Sioux  in  that  region." 


138  MAKY    AND    I. 

"  Sept.  2,  1850. 

"  Last  evening,  hearing  Thomas  cry  after  he  had  gone 
to  rest,  I  went  to  the  chamber.  Alfred  was  teaching  him 
to  say,  '  Now  I  lay  me,'  and  the  sentence,  '  If  I  should 
die,'  distressed  him  very  much.  I  soothed  him  by  asking 
God  to  keep  him  through  the  night.  He  has  never  seen 
a  corpse,  but,  a  few  weeks  ago,  he  saw  Mrs.  Antoine  Ren- 
ville  buried,  and  he  has  seen  dead  birds  and  chickens. 
He  said,  'What  is  to  die,  mamma?'  and  evidently  felt 
that  it  wras  something  very  incomprehensible  and  dread 
ful.  I  felt  a  difficulty  in  explaining  it,  and  I  wished  to 
soothe  the  animal  excitement,  and  not  lessen  the  serious 
state  of  mind  he  manifested.  I  think  I  will  tell  him 
more  about  Jesus'  death  —  his  burial  and  resurrection. 
It  is  this  that  has  illumined  the  grave.  It  is  faith  in 
Him  who  has  conquered  'him  that  had  the  power  of 
death,'  which  will  give  us  the  victory  over  every  fear." 

With  an  increased  missionary  force,  we  hoped  to  see 
large  results  within  the  next  few  years.  There  was  prog 
ress  made,  but  not  so  much  as  we  hoped  for.  In  fact, 
it  was  chiefly  apparent  in  "  strengthening  the  things  that 
remain."  Just  before  this  enlargement,  Mr.  S.  W.  Pond 
had  separated  from  his  brother,  and  formed  a  station  at 
Shakopee,  or  Six's  Village,  which  he  called  Prairievitte. 
After  a  while,  little  churches  were  organized  at  Kaposia, 
Oak  Grove,  Prairieville,  and  Traverse  des  Sioux.  At 
Lac-qui-parle  the  numbers  in  the  church  were  somewhat 
increased.  We  began  to  have  more  young  men  in  the 
church,  and  they  began  to  separate  themselves  more  and 
more  from  the  village,  and  to  build  cabins  and  make 
fields  for  themselves.  Thus  the  religion  of  Christ  worked 
to  disintegrate  heathenism, 


FORTY  YEAKS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          139 

The  summer  of  1851  came,  which  brought  great  changes, 
and  prepared  the  way  for  others.  It  was  one  of  the  very 
wet  summers  in  Minnesota,  when  the  streams  were  flooded 
all  the  summer  through.  In  making  our  trip  for  provis 
ions  in  the  spring,  we  were  detained  at  the  crossing  of 
one  stream  for  almost  a  whole  week.  In  the  latter  part 
of  June,  the  Indians  from  all  along  the  upper  part  of  the 
Minnesota  were  called  down  to  Traverse  des  Sioux,  to 
meet  commissioners  of  the  government.  They  were 
obliged  to  swim  at  many  places.  The  Minnesota  was 
very  high,  spreading  its  waters  over  all  the  low  bottom 
contiguous  to  the  mission  premises.  Governor  Ramsay 
and  Commissioner  Lea  were  there  for  the  government. 
General  Sibley  and  the  fur-traders  generally  were  present, 
with  a  large  number  of  the  Wahpaton  and  Sisseton 
Sioux. 

The  Fourth  of  July  was  to  be  celebrated  grandly,  and 
Mr.  Hopkins  had  consented  to  take  a  part  in  the  celebra 
tion,  but  the  Lord  disposed  otherwise.  In  the  early 
morning,  Mr.  Hopkins  went  to  bathe  in  the  overflow  of 
the  river.  When  the  family  breakfast  was  ready  he  had 
not  returned.  He  was  sought  for,  and  his  clothes  alone 
were  found.  He  had  gone  up  through  the  flood  of  water. 
It  was  supposed  that,  unintentionally,  he  had  waded  in 
beyond  his  depth,  and,  as  he  could  not  swim,  was  unable 
again  to  reach  the  land. 

This  was  the  second  great  sorrow  that  came,  in  the 
same  way,  to  the  mission  band  of  Traverse  des  Sioux.  It 
threw  a  pall  over  the  festivities  of  the  day.  The  Indians 
said  again  the  Oonktehe  —  their  Neptune  —  was  angry 
and  had  taken  the  wechasta  wakan.  But  the  mission 
families  were  enabled  to  say,  "  It  is  the  Lord."  When 
the  body  floated  it  was  caught  in  fishing  nets,  and  care- 


140  MARY    AND   I. 

fully  taken  up  and  buried  by  the  "  Oaks  of  Weeping." 
Mr.  Hopkins  did  not  live  to  see  much  matured  fruit  of 
his  labors,  but  he  had  put  in  eight  years  of  good,  honest 
work  for  the  Master,  among  the  Dakotas,  and  he  has  his 
reward. 

The  Treaty  was  made,  which,  with  one  consummated 
immediately  after,  at  Mendota,  with  the  Lower  Sioux, 
conveyed  to  the  white  people  all  their  land  in  Minnesota, 
except  a  reserve  on  the  upper  part  of  the  river.  These 
treaties  had  an  important  bearing  on  our  mission  work 
and  on  all  the  eastern  Dakotas. 

The  messenger  who  brought  word  to  us  at  Lac-qui- 
parle  of  the  sudden  death  of  our  brother,  Robert  Hop 
kins,  brought  also  to  me  a  pressing  invitation  from  the 
commission  to  attend  the  making  of  the  Treaty.  I  at 
once  mounted  a  pony  and  rode  down.  It  gave  me  an 
opportunity  of  seeing  the  inside  of  Indian  treaties.  On 
my  return,  I  was  in  advance  of  the  Indians,  and,  coming 
to  the  Chippewa  alone,  I  found  no  way  of  crossing  its 
swollen  tide  but  by  swimming.  In  the  middle  of  the 
stream,  my  horse  turned  over  backward,  and  we  went 
down  to  the  bottom  together.  He  soon,  however,  righted 
himself,  and  I  came  up  by  his  side,  with  one  hand  holding 
his  mane.  I  remember  well  the  feeling  I  had  when  in  the 
deep  waters,  that  my  horse  would  take  me  out.  And  I 
was  not  disappointed.  This  event  has  ever  since  been 
to  me  a  lesson  of  trust.  "  Though  I  walk  through  the 
valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  I  will  fear  no  evil :  for 
thou  art  with  me;  thy  rod  and  thy  staff  they  comfort 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

1851-1854.— Grammar  and  Dictionary.— How  It  Grew.— Publica 
tion.  —  Minnesota  Historical  Society.  —  Smithsonian  Institu 
tion.— Going  East.— Mission  Meeting  at  Traverse  des  Sioux. — 
Mrs.  Hopkins.  — Death's  Doings.  — Changes  in  the  Mode  of 
Writing  Dakota  —  Completed  Book.  —  Growth  of  the  Lan 
guage.  _  in  Brooklyn  and  Philadelphia.  —  The  Misses 
Spooner.  —  Changes  in  the  Mission.  —  The  Ponds  and  Others 
Retire. — Dr.  Williamson  at  Pay-zhe-hoo-ta-ze. — Winter 
Storms.  —  Andrew  Hunter.  —  Two  Families  Left.  —  Children 
Learning  Dakota.  —  Our  House  Burned.  —  The  Lord  Pro 
vides. 

A  GRAMMAR  and  dictionary  of  the  Dakota  language  had 
been  going  through  the  process  of  growth  in  all  these 
years.  It  was  incidental  to  our  missionary  work,  and  in 
the  line  of  it.  The  materials  came  to  us  naturally  in  our 
acquisition  of  the  language,  and  we  simply  arranged 
them.  The  work  of  arrangement  involved  a  good  deal 
of  labor ;  but  it  brought  its  reward,  in  the  better  insight 
it  gave  one  of  their  forms  of  thought  and  expression. 

To  begin  with,  we  had  the  advantage  of  what  had  been 
gathered  by  the  Messrs.  Pond  and  Stevens,  and  Dr.  Will 
iamson,  in  the  three  years  before  we  came.  Perhaps  an 
effort  made  still  earlier,  by  some  officers  of  the  army  at 
Fort  Snelling,  in  collecting  a  vocabulary  of  a  few  hun 
dred  words  of  the  Sioux  language,  should  not  be  over 
looked.  Thus,  entering  into  other  men's  labors,  when  we 
had  been  a  year  or  more  in  the  country,  and  were  some 
what  prepared  to  reap  on  our  own  account,  the  vocabu- 

141 


142  MARY    AND    I. 

lary  which  I  had  gathered  from  all  sources  amounted 
to  about  three  thousand  words. 

From  that  time  onward,  it  continued  to  increase  rapidly, 
as  by  means  of  translations  and  otherwise  we  were  gath 
ering  new  words.  In  a  couple  of  years  more,  the  whole 
needed  revision  and  rewriting,  when  it  was  found  to  have 
more  than  doubled.  So  it  grew.  Mr.  S.  W.  Pond  also 
entered  into  the  work  of  arranging  the  words  and  noting 
the  principles  of  the  Dakota  language.  He  gave  me  the 
free  use  of  his  collections,  and  he  had  the  free  use  of 
mine.  This  will  be  sufficient  to  indicate  the  way  in  which 
the  work  was  carried  on  from  year  to  year.  How  many 
dictionaries  I  made  I  cannot  now  remember.  When  the 
collection  reached  ten  thousand  words  and  upward,  it 
began  to  be  quite  a  chore  to  make  a  new  copy.  By  and 
by  we  had  reason  to  believe  that  we  had  gathered  pretty 
much  the  whole  language,  and  our  definitions  were  meas 
urably  correct. 

It  was  about  the  beginning  of  the  year  1851  when  the 
question  of  publication  was  first  discussed.  Certain  gen 
tlemen  in  the  Legislature  of  Minnesota,  and  connected 
with  the  Historical  Society  of  Minnesota,  became  inter 
ested  in  the  matter.  Under  the  auspicies  of  this  society, 
a  circular  was  printed  setting  forth  the  condition  of  the 
manuscript,  and  the  probable  expense  of  publication,  and 
asking  the  co-operation  of  all  who  were  interested  in 
giving  the  language  of  the  Dakotas  to  the  literary  world 
in  a  tangible  and  permanent  form.  The  subscription 
thus  started  by  the  Historical  Society,  and  headed  by 
such  names  as  Alexander  Ramsay  (then  governor  of  the 
Territory),  Rev.  E.  D.  Neill  (the  secretary  of  the  society), 
H.  H.  Sibley,  H.  M.  Rice,  and  Martin  McLeod  (the  chiefs 
of  the  fur-trade),  in  the  course  of  the  summer,  amounted 


FORTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          143 

to  about  eight  hundred  dollars.  With  this  sum  pledged, 
it  was  considered  quite  safe  to  commence  the  publication. 
The  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Mis 
sions  very  cheerfully  consented  to  pay  my  expenses  while 
carrying  the  work  through  the  press,  besides  making  a 
donation  to  it  directly  from  their  treasury. 

From  these  sources  we  had  $1000  ;  and  with  this  sum 
the  book  might  have  been  published  in  a  cheap  form, 
relying  upon  after  sales  to  meet  any  deficiency.  But, 
after  considering  the  matter,  and  taking  the  advice  of 
friends  who  were  interested  in  the  highest  success  of  the 
undertaking,  it  was  decided  to  offer  it  to  the  Smithsonian 
Institution,  to  be  brought  out  as  one  of  their  series  of 
contributions  to  knowledge.  Prof.  Joseph  Henry  at  once 
had  it  examined  by  Prof.  C.  C.  Felton  and  Prof.  W.  W. 
Turner.  It  received  their  approval  and  was  ordered  to 
be  printed. 

In  the  meantime,  Mary  and  I  had  undertaken  our  sec 
ond  trip  to  the  East.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Adams,  who  had  been 
away  awhile  on  account  of  Mrs.  Adams'  health,  were  now 
back  at  Lac-qui-parle,  associated  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Petti- 
john.  We  commenced  our  journey  across  the  prairie 
about  the  first  of  September.  The  waters  were  still  high, 
and  we  found  it  necessary  to  make  a  boat  which  should 
serve  as  a  bed  for  one  of  our  wagons,  and  be  easily  trans 
ferred  to  the  water. 

Our  children  now  numbered  a  round  half-dozen.  The 
baby,  Henry  Marty n,  about  two  years  old,  must  be  taken 
along,  of  course.  The  boy,  "  Good  Bird,"  now  about  four 
teen,  we  would  take  down  with  us  and  send  to  school  in 
Illinois.  Isabella  we  concluded  to  take  on  to  the 
mother's  mountain  home  in  Massachusetts.  The  two  lit- 


144  MARY    AXD    I. 

tie  girls  were  kindly  cared  for  in  the  family  of  Rev.  E.  D. 
Neill  of  St.  Paul ;  and  the  little  boy,  Thomas,  was  to  stay 
in  Dr.  Williamson's  family,  at  Kaposia.  Thus  the  distri 
bution  was  finally  made. 

The  mission  meeting  took  place  this  year  at  Traverse 
des  Sioux.  Among  other  consultations,  it  was  adjudged 
wise  for  Mrs.  Hopkins  and  her  three  children  —  the  father 
and  husband  being  gone  —  to  accompany  us  on  their 
return  to  her  friends  in  Southern  Ohio.  The  brothers 
Pond  and  Rev.  Joseph  Hancock,  who  had  joined  the 
mission  and  was  stationed  at  Red  Wing,  all  had  their 
horses,  and,  the  travel  by  land  being  difficult,  they  put 
them  on  board  our  good  mission  boat  Winona,  and  so  we 
had  a  full  cargo  down  to  St.  Paul. 

From  there  we  had  a  steamer  to  Galena,  where  we  took 
passage  in  freight  wagons  that  were  going  to  El^in,  the 
terminus  of  the  railroad  that  was  then  being  made  west 
from  Chicago.  This  trip  across  the  country  we  all  greatly 
enjoyed,  stopping  at  Freeport  over  the  Sabbath,  and  lis 
tening  to  the  somewhat  celebrated  revivalist  Elder  Knapp. 
We  crossed  Lake  Michigan,  and  by  the  Michigan  Central 
to  Detroit,  and  then  took  a  lake  boat  to  Cleveland.  That 
night  we  encountered  a  lake  storm;  and,  while  almost 
every  one  was  sea-sick,  Mary  and  I  stood  on  the  fore  deck 
and  enjoyed  watching  the  mountain  waves. 

Reaching  the  land  in  safety,  Mrs.  Hopkins  and  her  lit 
tle  family  went  to  Southern  Ohio,  and  we  spent  a  few  days 
in  Medina,  with  Mary's  brother,  Rev.  M.  M.  Longley. 
We  found  that  the  eight  years  which  had  passed  since  we 
were  East  before  had  made  a  good  many  vacant  chairs  in 
our  home  circles.  My  own  father  had  been  called  from 
earth  very  suddenly,  in  1845.  He  was  well  and  had  done 
a  hard  day's  work,  but  ere  the  evening  shadows  fell  he  had 


FORTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          145 

passed  beyond  the  river.  The  angel  of  death  and  the 
angel  of  life  had  visited  Mary's  home  again  and  again. 
First  the  grandfather,  Col.  Edmund  Longley,  had  gone  to 
his  fathers,  at  the  good  old  age  of  ninety-five.  Then,  in 
1848,  the  pater  familias,  Gen.  Thomas  Longley,  had 
wrapped  his  cloak  about  him  and  laid  him  down  to  rest. 
The  next  to  hear  the  summons  was  the  little  sister,  Hen 
rietta  Arms.  She  had  grown  to  be  a  woman,  and  Mary 
fondly  hoped  to  have  her  companionship  and  aid  in  the 
Dakota  field.  But  the  Master  called  her  up  higher.  And 
then,  only  a  few  months  before  we  reached  Ohio,  the  lov 
ing,  cultured,  and  beloved  brother  Alfred  had  passed, 
through  months  of  weariness  and  pain,  up  to  the  new  life 
and  vigor  of  the  heavenly  world.  He  had  been  preach 
ing  for  several  years  in  North-eastern  Ohio.  So  many 
had  gone  that  when  we  reached  the  mountain  home  in 
Hawley,  we  found  it  desolate.  Only  Joseph  and  his 
mother  remained.  Mary  soon  persuaded  her  mother  to 
go  down  to  South  Deerfield,  that  they  might  together 
spend  the  winter  with  the  older  sister,  Mrs.  Cooley.  And 
I  went  to  New  York  City,  and  was  the  next  seven 
months  engaged  in  getting  through  the  press  the  gram 
mar  and  dictionary  of  the  Dakota  language. 

Of  the  various  hindrances  and  delays,  and  of  the  burn 
ing  of  the  printing-office  in  which  the  work  was  in  prog 
ress,  and  the  loss  of  quite  a  number  of  pages  of  the 
book,  which  had  to  be  again  made  up,  I  need  not  speak. 
They  are  ordinary  incidents.  Early  in  the  summer  of 
1852  the  work  was  done,  —  and  done,  I  believe,  to  the 
satisfaction  of  all  parties.  Tt  has  obtained  the  commen 
dation  of  literary  men  generally,  and  it  was  said  that  for 
no  volume  published  by  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  up 
to  that  time,  was  the  demand  so  great  as  for  that.  It  is 


146  MARY    AND   I. 

now  out  of  print,  and  the  book  can  only  be  bought  at 
fancy  prices. 

The  question  of  republication  is  sometimes  talked  of, 
but  no  steps  have  been  taken  yet  to  accomplish  the 
object.  While,  as  the  years  have  gone  by,  and  the  book 
has  been  tested  by  Dakota  scholars  and  found  to  be  all 
that  was  ever  claimed  for  it,  yet,  in  case  of  a  republica 
tion,  some  valuable  additions  can  be  made  to  the  sixteen 
thousand  words  which  it  contains.  The  language  itself 
is  growing.  Never,  probably,  in  its  whole  history,  has  it 
grown  so  much  in  any  quarter  of  a  century  as  it  has  in 
the  twenty-five  years  since  the  dictionary  was  published. 
Besides,  we  have  recently  been  learning  more  of  the 
Teeton  dialect,  which  is  spoken  by  more  than  half  of  the 
whole  Sioux  nation.  And,  as  the  translation  of  the  Bible 
has  progressed,  thoughts  and  images  have  been  brought 
in,  which  have  given  the  language  an  unction  and  power 
unknown  to  it  before.* 

While  we  were  in  the  East,  several  offers  were  made  in 
regard  to  taking  one  of  our  children.  These  offers  came 
from  the  best  families,  where  a  child  would  have  enjoyed 
all  the  comforts  and  many  of  the  luxuries  of  life,  more 
than  could  be  had  in  our  Indian  home.  It  was  a  ques 
tion  that  had  often  claimed  our  thought,  and  sometimes 
had  been  very  favorably  considered  ;  but  when  the  oppor 
tunity  came,  we  decided  to  keep  our  children  with  us  for 
the  present.  The  circumstances  of  our  home-life  had 
changed  somewhat;  home  education  could  be  carried  on 
to  better  advantage  and  with  less  drawbacks  than  in  the 
first  years  of  our  missionary  life. 

And  so  in  the  month  of  June,  when  the  Philadelphia 

*  A  revised  edition  will  soon  be  published. 


FORTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          147 

market  was  red  with  its  best  strawberries,  we  started 
westward,  bringing  the  two  children  with  us.  It  had 
l>een  a  profitable  year  to  Isabella.  The  mother  and  chil 
dren  had  spent  a  couple  of  the  last  months  with  relatives 
and  friends  in  Brooklyn,  and  now  we  made  a  little  stop 
in  the  Quaker  City,  and  visited  Girard  College,  Fair- 
mount,  and  other  places  of  interest.  It  was  September 
when  we  had  gathered  all  our  six  children  together  and 
were  making  the  trip  across  the  prairie  to  Lac-qui-parle. 
This  time  we  had  with  us  the  Misses  Lucy  and  Mary 
Spooner  of  Kentucky,  —  since  Mrs.  Drake  and  Mrs. 
Worcester.  They  came  out  to  spend  two  years  in  the 
mission.  Miss  Lucy's  teaching  in  music,  vocal  and  instru 
mental,  as  well  as  other  branches,  was  of  singular  advan 
tage  to  our  own  children,  as  well  as  to  the  Indians.  Miss 
Mary  went  into  the  family  of  Mr.  Adams,  who  had 
gathered  a  little  boarding-school  of  Dakota  children. 
This  might  be  called  the  first  effort  in  this  line  made 
among  the  Dakotas. 

Before  our  return,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pettijohn  had  taken  the 
pre-emption  fever,  and  had  left  the  mission  and  gone  to 
the  Traverse  and  made  a  claim.  Mrs.  Pettijohn  had 
been  connected  with  the  mission  work  since  1839,  and 
Mr.  P.  for  a  shorter  period.  Both  had  been  conscientious 
workers,  and  had  done  good  service.  They  now  wanted 
to  make  a  home  for  their  growing  family.  Mr.  Huggins 
also,  about  the  same  time,  left  the  mission  work,"  and 
made  a  home  in  the  same  neighborhood.  Mr.  Potter 
had  left  the  Dakota  field  after  only  a  year's  trial,  regard 
ing  it  as  a  very  difficult  one,  as  compared  with  the  one  he 
had  left  in  the  Indian  Territory  South.  Now,  in  the 
years  1852  and  1853,  our  numbers  diminished  very  rap 
idly.  The  Indians  were  to  be  removed,  according  to  the 


148  MARY    AND    I. 

stipulations  of  their  treaties,  to  their  reserve  on  the  Upper 
Minnesota.  Both  the  brothers  Pond  elected  to  stay  where 
they  were,  and  minister  to  the  white  people  who  were 
rapidly  settling  up  the  country.  Both  were  successful  in 
organizing  churches,  one  at  Shakopee  and  the  other  at 
Bloomington.  Both  still  live,  but  have  retired  from  the 
work  of  the  ministry,  and  are  waiting  for  the  translation 
to  the  upper  world.* 

Likewise,  for  the  same  reasons,  Mr.  John  F.  Aiton 
retired  from  the  service  of  the  Board  about  the  same 
time,  and  Mr.  Hancock  also.  Dr.  Williamsom  elected 
to  continue  his  work  among  the  Dakotas,  and  so  made 
arrangements,  in  advance  of  the  removal  of  the  Indians, 
to  open  a  new  station  near  the  Yellow  Medicine,  which 
he  called  Pay-zhe-hoo-ta-ze  —  the  Dakota  name  for  that 
stream. 

During  the  summer  of  1852,  Dr.  Williamson  had 
erected  his  dwelling-house  at  this  new  place,  but  it  was 
still  in  quite  an  unfinished  state  when  he  removed  his 
family  up,  in  the  beginning  of  the  cold  weather.  That 
fall  the  snows  came  early,  and  found  the  family  without 
any  sufficient  supplies  for  the  winter.  In  December,  the 
storms  were  incessant,  and  the  snow  became  very  deep,  at 
which  time  the  doctor's  men  were  toiling  against  odds, 
endeavoring  to  bring  up  provisions  to  the  family  on  the 
Yellow  Medicine.  But  they  could  not  succeed.  When 
they  were  yet  more  than  forty  miles  away,  their  teams 
gave  out  and  were  buried  in  the  snow.  The  men,  both 

*  Since  this  chapter  was  written,  Rev.  G.  H.  Pond,  the  younger 
of  the  brothers,  has  gone  to  see  the  King  in  his  Beauty,  in  the  Land 
that  is  not  very  far  off.  He  departed  on  the  20th  of  January,  1878, 
leaving  a  family  of  fifty,  —  twenty-two  were  grandchildren,  —  and 
all  except  the  sixteen  youngest  professing  Christians. 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  149 

frozen  badly,  Mr.  Andrew  Hunter  much  maimed,  barely 
succeeded  in  reaching  the  mission.  How  the  family  were 
to  winter  through  was  not  apparent,  but  the  Lord  pro 
vided.  Unexpectedly,  the  Indians  found  fish  in  the  river, 
and  Mr.  Adams,  with  a  young  man,  worked  his  way  down 
from  Lac-qui-parle,  and  carried  them  what  provisions 
they  could  on  a  hand-sled.  Thus  they  weathered  the  ter 
rible  winter.  Thus  they  commenced  mission  work  at  this 
new  place,  where  they  continued  for  ten  years,  until  the 
outbreak. 

At  Lac-qui-parle  we  were  doing  effective  Christian 
work.  Our  own  family  were  all  together.  The  hard 
winter  entailed  a  good  deal  of  hard  work.  The  snow 
would  sift  through  our  roofs  and  pack  into  the  upper 
part  of  our  houses,  until,  as  we  sometimes  said,  there  was 
more  inside  than  outside.  Every  day,  also,  our  hay-stacks 
were  covered  up  with  snow,  so  as  to  make  the  labor  of 
feeding  the  cattle  very  great.  But  still  these  were  years 
of  enjoyment  and  profit.  A  company  of  Dakota  young 
men  were  growing  up  and  preparing  for  work  in  the 
future. 

The  next  year  Mr.  Adams  received  an  invitation  to 
take  charge  of  the  church  of  white  people  at  Traverse 
des  Sioux,  which  was  the  continuation  of  the  mission 
church  organized  there.  This  invitation  he  accepted, 
and  closed  his  connection  with  the  special  work  for  the 
Dakotas.  It  will  occur  to  every  reader  of  these  memoirs 
to  note  how  many  men  the  foreign  mission  work  among 
the  Dakotas  gave  to  the  home  mission  work  among  the 
white  people  of  Minnesota.  The  shepherds  were  here 
in  advance  of  their  flocks.  The  work  is  one  —  the  world 
for  Christ. 

The   Dakota  mission  was  now  reduced  to  its  lowest 


150  MAKY    AND    I. 

terms;  only  Dr.  Williamson's  family  and  my  own  re 
mained.  If  the  Lord  had  not  given  us  the  victory  when 
we  were  many,  would  he  do  it  when  we  were  few  ?  We 
were  sure  he  could  do  it.  While  it  is  true  that  the 
Lord  is  often  on  the  side  of  the  strong  battalions,  it  is  not 
always  so.  And  spiritual  forces  are  not  measured  by 
the  same  rules  that  measure  material  forces.  So  we 
toiled  on  with  good  hope,  and  when,  a  year  later,  we 
were  called  to  leave  Lac-qui-parle,  and  commence  our 
station  elsewhere,  Secretary  Treat  proposed  that  we  call 
it  New  Hope. 

In  carrying  on  missionary  labor  among  a  heathen  peo 
ple,  the  question,  What  shall  be  the  relation  of  the  chil 
dren  of  the  mission  family  to  the  people?  is  often  a 
difficult  and  perplexing  one.  The  springs  of  the  home- 
life  must  be  kept,  as  far  as  possible,  from  being  con 
taminated.  And  yet  the  daily  intercourse  with  those 
of  impure  thoughts  and  impure  words  is  contaminating. 
Shall  we  make  our  family  a  garden  inclosed?  If  so,  the 
children  when  small  must  not  learn  the  language  of  the 
natives.  Mary  and  I  adopted  this  principle  and  carried 
it  out  very  successfully.  Up  to  the  time  of  our  return 
in  1852,  our  children  had  hardly  learned  any  Dakota. 
Now,  our  boy  Alfred  was  fifteen  years  old,  and  had 
assigned  to  him  duties  which  made  it  necessary  that 
he  should  understand  the  Indians  somewhat  and  make 
himself  understood  by  them.  So  he  commenced  to  learn 
the  language.  John  P.  Williamson  had  commenced  to 
talk  it  much  earlier.  Doubtless  the  advantage  in  speak 
ing  a  language  is  with  those  who  learn  in  their  very 
childhood,  other  things  being  equal.  The  reason  for  the 
exclusion  had  partly  passed  by,  and  the  taking  of 


FORTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          151 

Dakota  children  into  our  family,  and  being  closely  con 
nected  with  a  boarding-school  of  Dakota  children,  made 
it  impossible,  if  it  had  been  desirable,  longer  to  keep  up 
the  bars. 

By  and  by  came  along  the  third  of  March,  1854.  The 
spring  had  opened  early,  the  ground  was  bare  of  snow, 
and  everything  was  dry.  Our  cellars  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  freezing,  and  to  protect  our  potatoes  and  other 
vegetables  we  had  been  in  the  habit  of  stuffing  hay 
under  the  floor,  all  around,  in  the  fall.  This  hay  had  not 
yet  been  removed,  and  was  very  dry.  The  cellar  was 
dark,  and  a  lighted  candle  was  needed  by  those  who  went 
down  for  any  purpose.  The  mother  was  preparing  for 
the  family  dinner,  and  so  had  sent  down  the  little  boys, 
Thomas  and  Henry,  in  their  seventh  and  fifth  years  re 
spectively,  to  bring  her  up  potatoes.  Through  careless 
ness,  and  without  thought,  perhaps,  they  held  the  lighted 
candle  too  near  the  dried  hay.  It  took  fire  immedietely, 
and  in  a  few  seconds  of  time  so  filled  the  cellar  with 
smoke  that  the  boys  with  some  difficulty  made  their 
escape. 

There  was  no  supply  of  water  nearer  than  the  river 
and  spring  run,  down  quite  a  hill.  But  every  boy  and 
girl  were  soon  carrying  water.  The  difficulty  was  to 
reach  the  fire  with  the  water.  The  floor  was  flooded 
and  a  hole  was  cut  through,  but  the  fire  had  taken  such 
a  hold  of  the  whole  interior,  that  our  little  pails  full  of 
water  were  laughed  at  by  the  flames.  The  effort  was  now 
made  to  save  something  from  the  burning  house.  Some 
articles  were  carried  into  the  other  house,  which  stood 
near  by.  But  that  also  took  fire,  and  both  houses 
were  soon  consumed,  with  almost  all  they  had  con- 


152  MARY    AND    I. 

tained.  A  few  books  were  saved,  and  the  chief  part 
of  Miss  Spooner's  wardrobe  and  bedding,  her  room 
being  on  the  corner  away  from  where  the  fire  com 
menced.  Before  noon  the  fire-fiend  had  done  his  work, 
and  our  mission  houses  were  a  mass  of  coals  and  ashes. 
Very  little  had  been  saved.  The  potatoes  in  the  cellars 
were  much  burned  and  cooked,  but,  underneath,  a  por 
tion  of  them  were  found  to  be  in  a  good  state  of  preser 
vation. 

The  adobe  church,  that  stood  partly  under  the  hill, 
was  the  only  building  that  escaped.  Thither  we  removed 
what  few  things  we  had  saved,  and  our  Dakota  neighbors 
were  very  kind,  bringing  us  what  they  could  ;  while  Mr. 
Martin  McLeod,  the  trader,  sent  us  blankets  and  other 
things  to  meet  the  present  necessity,  partly  as  a  gift,  and 
partly  to  be  paid  for.  In  a  few  days  Dr.  Williamson 
came  up  from  Pay-zhe-hoo-ta-ze  with  further  supplies. 
And  all  along  through  the  spring  and  summer,  as  our 
friends  in  the  East  heard  of  our  loss,  the  boxes  and  barrels 
were  sent  for  our  relief.  It  did  us  good  to  know  that  we 
had  so  many  true-hearted  friends. 


r 


\ 


MARY   A.  RIGGS. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

1854-1856.  —  Simon  Anawangmane.  —  Rebuilding  after  the  Fire. 

—  Visit  of  Secretary  Treat.  —  Change  of  Plan.  —  Hazelwood 
Station.  —  Circular  Saw  Mill.  —  Mission  Buildings.  —  Chapel. 

—  Civilized      Community.  —  Making      Citizens.  —  Boarding- 
School.  —  Educating  our  own  Children.  —  Financial  Difficul 
ties.  —  The    Lord    Provides.  —  A    Great    Affliction.  —  Smith 
Burgess  Williamson.  —  "  Aunt  Jane."  —  Bunyan's  Pilgrim  in 
Dakota. 

WHEN,  after  the  fire,  we  were  somewhat  comfortably 
domiciled  in  the  adobe  church,  the  time  came  for  our 
regular  communion.  The  disaster  had  made  all  our 
hearts  tender,  and  the  opportunity  for  helpfulness  on 
the  part  of  our  native  church  members,  which  had  been 
improved  by  many  of  them,  had  drawn  us  toward  them. 
It  was  sn  appropriate  time  to  remember  what  Christ 
had  done  for  us.  And  just  then  we  were  made  very 
glad  by  the  return  of  Simon  Anawangmane  from  his 
long  wanderings.  Some  years  before,  he  had  broken 
away  from  strong  drink,  but  he  was  so  overcome  with 
remorse  and  shame  that  he  could  not  get  up  courage 
enough  to  come  back  and  take  again  upon  him  the 
oath  of  fealty  to  the  wounded  Lord.  He  edged  his  way 
back.  He  had  often  come  and  sat  on  the  door-step,  not 
daring  to  venture  in.  Then  he  came  in  and  sat  down  in 
a  corner.  By  and  by  he  took  more  courage.  He  had 
talked  with  Dr.  Williamson  at  Yellow  Medicine,  who 
gave  him  a  letter,  saying,  "  I  think  Simon  should  now 

153 


154  MAKY    AND    I. 

be  restored  to  the  church."  We  did  reinstate  him. 
And  for  more  than  a  score  of  years  since  his  restoration, 
Simon  has  lived,  so  far  as  we  can  see,  a  true  Christian 
life.  For  nearly  all  that  time  he  has  been  a  ruling  elder 
in  the  church,  and  for  ten  years  past  a  licensed  exhorter. 

"We  decided  almost  immediately  to  rebuild  our  burnt 
houses,  and  as  soon  as  we  had  taken  care  of  the  pota 
toes  in  the  cellars,  that  were  not  too  much  injured,  we 
set  about  getting  out  timbers.  It  was  a  slow  process  to 
saw  boards  and  timbers  with  the  whip-saw,  but  up  to 
this  time  this  had  been  our  only  way  of  making  material 
for  building.  This  work  had  been  pushed  on  so  well 
that  when,  by  the  first  of  June,  Secretary  S.  B.  Treat, 
of  the  mission  house  in  Boston,  made  us  a  visit,  we  had 
gotten  out  material  for  the  frame  of  our  house.  His 
visit,  at  this  time,  was  exceedingly  gratifying  and  helpful 
to  us  all.  It  was  good  to  counsel  with  such  a  sagacious, 
true,  thoughtful,  Christian  counsellor  as  Mr.  Treat. 

The  whole  line  of  mission  work  was  carefully  reviewed. 
The  result  was  that  we  gave  up  our  plan  of  rebuilding  at 
Lac-qui-parle  and  sought  a  new  place.  The  reasons  for 
this  were :  first,  we  had  from  the  beginning  been  widely 
separated  in  our  work,  spreading  out  our  labors  and 
attempting  to  cultivate  as  much  of  the  field  as  possible. 
This  had  obviously  had  its  disadvantages.  We  were  too 
far  apart  to  cheer  and  help  each  other.  Now,  when  we 
were  reduced  to  two  families,  Mr.  Treat  advised  concen 
trating  our  forces.  That  was  in  accordance  with  our 
own  inclinations.  And,  secondly,  the  Yellow  Medicine 
had  been  made  the  headquarters  of  the  Indian  Agency 
for  the  four  thousand  Upper  Indians.  The  drift  W.MS 
down  toward  that  point.  It  was  found  that  we  could 
take  with  us  almost  all  the  Christian  part  of  our  corn- 


FORTY    YEAKS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  155 

munity.  The  idea  was  to  commence  a  settlement  of  the 
civilized  and  Christianized  Dakotas,  at  some  point  within 
convenient  distance  from  the  Agency,  to  receive  the  help 
which  the  government  had  by  treaty  pledged  itself  to 
give.  And  so  we  got  on  our  horses  and  rode  down  to 
Dr.  Williamson's,  twenty-five  or  thirty  miles;  and  Mr. 
Treat  and  Dr.  Williamson  and  Miss  Spoon er  and  Mary 
and  I  rode  over  the  country  above  Pay-zhe-hoo-ta-ze, 
which  was  selected  as  the  site  for  the  new  station,  after 
ward  called  Hazelwood.  At  Dr.  Williamson's,  we  had 
a  memorable  meeting,  at  which  Mr.  Treat  told  our 
Dakota  church  members  of  a  visit  he  had  made  to  the 
Choctaws  and  Cherokees.  We  also  had  consultations  on 
various  matters ;  among  which  was  that  of  getting  out 
a  new  Dakota  hymn-book,  which  should  contain  the 
music  as  well  as  the  hymns.  A  new  departure  was  thus 
inaugurated  in  our  mission  work,  and,  in  after  years, 
time  was  often  counted  from  this  visit  of  Secretary 
Treat. 

The  building  materials  we  had  prepared  at  Lac-qui- 
parle  were  partly  hauled  by  land  and  partly  floated 
down  the  river;  and  by  the  month  of  September  our 
house  was  so  far  finished  that  we  removed  the  family 
down.  Also,  we  had  erected  a  small  frame  which  served 
for  various  purposes,  as  school-room  and  dwelling.  But, 
while  the  work  was  progressing,  Mary  had  quite  a  sudden 
and  severe  attack  of  sickness.  It  was  nearly  sundown 
when  the  messenger  arrived,  and  Dr.  Williamson  and  I 
had  a  night  ride  over  the  prairie.  The  shadows  looked 
weii'd  and  ghostly  —  perhaps  tinged  by  the  mental  state 
of  the  beholder.  At  midnight  we  reached  the  sufferer, 
who  was,  by  wise  doctoring  and  skilful  nursing,  restored 
in  a  week, 


156  MAKY    AND   I. 

The  Dakotas  entered  at  once  into  the  idea  of  the  new 
settlement ;  and  no  sooner  had  we  selected  the  spot  for 
our  building  and  set  a  breaking-plough  to  work  in  making 
a  mission  field,  than  they  were  at  work  in  the  same  line. 
The  desirable  places  were  soon  selected,  and  log  cabins 
went  up,  the  most  of  which  were  replaced  by  frame 
buildings  or  brick  within  a  year  or  two.  The  frames 
were  put  up  by  themselves,  with  the  assistance  we  could 
give  them,  —  the  brick  houses  were  built  by  the 
government. 

We  had  been  long  enough  schooling  ourselves  in  the 
use  of  the  whip-saw.  That  was  one  of  the  processes  of 
labor  that,  years  before,  I  had  determined  not  to  learn. 
I  had  acquired  some  skill  in  the  use  of  the  broadaxe, 
and  rather  liked  it.  I  had  applied  my  knowledge  of 
mathematics  in  various  ways  to  the  work  of  framing 
houses,  and  it  became  a  pleasure.  But  I  thought  I 
should  avoid  the  whip-saw.  The  time,  however,  came 
when  I  needed  a  sawyer  greatly,  and  could  obtain  none, 
and  so  took  hold  myself. 

But  now  we  decided  that  it  would  be  more  economical 
to  make  boards  by  horse  and  ox  power  than  by  man 
power  alone  ;  and  so  the  committee  at  Boston  author 
ized  the  purchase  of  a  small  circular  saw-mill.  This 
proved  quite  a  help  in  our  civilized  community.  It 
enabled  us  to  put  up  in  the  next  season  a  house  for 
a  small  boarding-school,  and  also  a  neat  church  building. 
This  latter  was  erected  and  finished  at  a  cost  of  about 
$700,  only  $200  of  which  was  mission  funds.  At  this 
time  the  Indians  were  receiving  money  annuities.  It 
was  paid  them  in  gold,  about  $10  for  each  individual. 
So  that  the  men  received  from  thirty  to  fifty  dollars. 
At  a  propitious  time  I  made  a  tea-party,  which  was 


FORTY   YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  157 

attended  by  our  civilized  men  largely,  and  the  result  was 
that,  with  some  assistance  from  white  people,  they  were 
able  to  raise  about  five  hundred  dollars.  It  was  a  success 
beyond  my  most  sanguine  expectations. 

We  had  now  such  a  respectable  community  of  young 
men,  who  had  cut  off  their  hair  and  exchanged  the  dress 
of  the  Dakotas  for  that  of  the  white  man,  and  whose 
wants  now  were  very  different  from  the  annuity  Dakotas 
generally,  that  we  took  measures  to  organize  them  into  a 
separate  band,  which  we  called  the  Hazelwood  Republic. 
They  elected  their  President  for  two  years,  and  other 
needed  officers,  and  were,  without  any  difficulty,  recog 
nized  by  the  agent  as  a  separate  band.  A  number  of 
these  men  were  half-breeds,  who  were,  by  the  organic 
law  of  Minnesota,  citizens.  The  constitution  of  the  State 
provided  that  Indians  also  might  become  citizens  by  sat 
isfying  a  court  of  their  progress  in  civilization. 

A  few  years  after  the  organization  of  this  civilized 
community,  I  took  eight  or  ten  of  the  men  to  meet  the 
court  at  Mankato,  but,  the  court  deciding  that  a  knowl 
edge  of  English  was  necessary  to  comply  with  the  laws 
of  the  State,  only  one  of  my  men  was  passed  into  citizen 
ship. 

A  part  of  the  plan  of  our  new  community  was  a  mis 
sion  boarding-school.  Almost  from  the  beginning,  we 
had  been  making  trial  of  educating  Dakota  children  in 
our  own  families.  Mary  had  a  little  girl  given  her  the 
first  fall  after  we  came  to  Lac-qui-parle ;  she  was  the 
daughter  of  Eagle  Help,  my  Bible  reader;  but  after  she 
had  washed  and  dressed  her  up  she  stayed  only  a  month, 
and  then  ran  away.  The  Messrs.  Pond  raised  one  or  two 
in  their  families.  Dr.  Williamson  had  several  Dakota 
children  when  at  Kaposia,  and  afterward  at  Pay-zhe-hoo- 


158  MARY    AND   I. 

ta-ze.  Mr.  Adams  had  at  one  time  a  boarding-school  of 
a  half-dozen  at  Lac-qui-parle,  and  we  had  two  or  three  in 
our  family.  Now  the  work  was  to  be  attempted  on  a 
larger  scale. 

The  Hazel  wood  boarding-school  was  for  a  while  cared 
for  by  Miss  Ruth  Pettijohn,  and  afterward  by  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  H.  D.  Cunningham.  Counting  those  in  Dr.  Will 
iamson's  family  and  our  own,  the  boarding  scholars 
amounted  to  twenty.  This  was  the  extent  of  our  ambi 
tion  in  that  line  at  that  time.  A  large  boarding-school 
demands  a  large  outlay  for  buildings,  as  well  as  for  its 
continual  support.  The  necessities  of  our  mission  work 
did  not  then  demand  the  outlay,  nor  could  it  have  been 
easily  obtained  from  the  funds  of  the  Board.  Connected 
with  this  school,  as  teachers,  were  Mrs.  Annie  B.  Ackley 
and  Miss  Eliza  Huggins  and  Isabella  B.  Riggs. 

"We  had  reached  the  time,  in  1854,  when  it  became  nec 
essary  to  enter  upon  some  plan  to  educate  our  children 
beyond  what  we  could  give  them  in  our  Indian  home. 
Three  years  before  this,  Alfred  had  been  at  school  in 
Illinois,  but  that  was  only  a  temporary  arrangement ; 
now  he  was  seventeen  years  old  and  prepared  to  enter 
college.  Mary  and  I  often  discussed  the  question  of 
ways  and  means.  It  was  our  desire  to  give  our  children 
as  good  an  education  as  we  possessed  ourselves  —  at  least, 
to  give  them  a  chance  of  obtaining  such  an  education. 
We  did  not  feel  that  our  position  as  missionaries  should 
make  this  impossible,  and  yet  how  it  was  to  be  accom 
plished  we  could  not  see.  We  had  neither  of  us  any 
patrimony.  In  this  respect  we  were  on  an  equality. 
She  received  $100  from  her  father's  estate,  and  I  but  a 
little  more  than  that,  and  we  did  not  know  of  any  rich 


FORTY    YEAKS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  159 

friends  to  whom  we  could  apply  for  aid.  Our  salary  had 
been  small  from  the  beginning.  We  entered  the  mission 
work  at  a  time  when  the  Board  was  cutting  down  every 
where.  So  that  we  started  on  a  salary  or  allowance  of 
about  $250,  and  for  the  first  quarter  of  a  century  it  did 
not  materially  differ  from  the  basis  of  a  Methodist  circuit 
rider  in  the  West  of  olden  times;  that  is,  $100  apiece, 
and  $50  for  each  child.  At  this  time,  when  our  family 
numbered  eight,  we  had  an  allowance  of  $500.  We  were 
both  close  calculators,  and  we  never  ran  in  debt.  We 
could  live  comfortably  with  our  children  at  home,  each 
doing  something  to  carry  the  burdens  of  life.  But  how 
could  we  support  one  or  more  away  at  school  ?  A  third 
of  the  whole  family  allowance  would  not  suffice  to  pay 
the  expenses  of  one,  at  the  most  economical  of  our  col 
leges  or  schools.  To  begin,  the  work  required  faith. 
We  determined  to  begin,  by  sending  Alfred  to  Knox 
College,  at  Galesburg,  Illinois.  From  year  to  year,  we 
were  able  to  keep  him  there  until  he  finished  the  course. 
Two  years  after  sending  Alfred,  we  sent  Isabella  to  the 
Western  Female  Seminary,  at  Oxford,  Ohio.  This,  how 
ever,  we  were  enabled  to  do  by  the  help  which  Mrs. 
Blaisdell  and  other  Christian  friends  of  the  Second  Pres 
byterian  Church  of  Cincinnati  gave. 

With  two  away  at  the  same  time,  "  the  barrel  of  meal 
did  not  waste,  nor  the  cruse  of  oil  fail."  In  various  ways 
the  Lord  helped  us.  One  year  our  garden  produced  a 
large  surplus  of  excellent  potatoes,  which  the  Indian 
agent  bought  at  a  very  remunerative  price.  From  year 
to  year  our  faith  was  strengthened.  "  Jehovah  Jireh  " 
became  our  motto.  He  stood  by  us  and  helped  us  in  the 
work  of  education  all  through  the  twenty-three  years  that 
have  followed,  until  the  last  of  Mary's  eight  children  has 


160  MARY    AND    I. 

finished  at  the  Beloit  high  school.  We  have  redeemed 
our  promise  and  pledge  made  to  each  other.  We  have 
given,  by  the  Lord's  help,  each  and  all  of  our  children  a 
chance  to  become  as  good  or  better  scholars  than  their 
father  and  mother  were. 

The  3d  of  March  was  associated  in  our  minds  with 
calamity  from  the  burning  of  our  houses  at  Lac-qui-parle. 
But  two  years  later,  or  in  the  spring  of  1856,  the  3d  of 
.March  brought  a  great  shadow  over  Dr.  Williamson's 
household.  Smith  Burgess  Williamson  was  just  coming 
up  to  young  manhood.  He  was  large  of  his  age,  a  very 
manly  boy.  On  this  3d  of  March  he  was  engaged  in 
hauling  up  firewood  with  an  ox-team.  He  probably 
attempted  to  get  on  his  loaded  sled  while  the  oxen  were 
in  motion,  and,  missing  his  step,  fell  under  the  runner. 
He  was  dragged  home,  a  distance  of  some  rods,  and  his 
young  life  was  entirely  crushed  out.  We  were  immedi 
ately  summoned  over  from  Hazelwood.  Human  sympa 
thy  could  go  but  a  little  way  toward  reaching  the  bottom 
of  such  a  trouble.  It  was  like  other  sorrows  that  had 
come  upon  us,  and  we  were  prepared  to  sit  down  in 
silence  with  our  afflicted  friends,  and  help  them  think 
out,  "It  is  the  Lord";  "I  was  dumb  because  thou  didst 
it."  The  family  had  been  already  schooled  in  affliction, 
and  this  helped  to  prepare  them  better  for  the  Master's 
work. 

During  these  passing  years,  the  educational  work  among 
the  Dakotas  was  progressing  beyond  what  it  had  done 
previously.  Our  boarding-school  at  Hazelwood,  in  charge 
of  H.  D.  Cunningham,  was  full  and  doing  good  service. 
Our  civilized  and  Christian  community  had  come  to  desire 
and  appreciate  somewhat  the  education  of  their  children. 
At  Dr.  Williamson's,  also,  several  were  taken  into  the 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  161 

family,  and  the  day-school  prospered.  Miss  Jane  S. 
Williamson,  a  maiden  sister  of  the  doctor,  had  come  to 
the  land  of  the  Dakotas  when  Mary  and  I  returned  in 
1843.  From  the  association  and  connection  of  her  father's 
family  with  slavery  in  South  Carolina,  she  had  grown  up 
with  a  great  interest  in  the  colored  people.  She  had 
taught  colored  schools  in  Ohio,  when  it  was  very  unpop 
ular,  even  in  a  free  state,  to  educate  the  blacks.  When 
she  came  to  the  Dakotas,  her  enthusiasm  in  the  work  of 
lifting  up  the  colored  race  was  at  once  transferred  to  the 
red  men,  and  she  became  an  indefatigable  worker  in 
their  education. 

She  often  carried  cakes  and  nuts  in  her  pocket,  and  had 
something  to  give  to  this  and  that  one,  to  draw  them  to 
her  school.  The  present  race  of  Dakotas  remember 
Aunt  Jane,  as  we  called  her,  or  Dowan  Dootawin,  Red 
Song  Woman,  as  they  called  her,  with  tender  interest, 
and  many  of  them  owe  more  to  her  than  they  can  under 
stand. 

At  this  time,  a  translation  of  the  first  part  of  John 
Bunyan's  Pilgrim,  which  I  had  prepared,  was  printed  by 
the  American  Tract  Society,  and  at  once  became  a  popu 
lar  and  profitable  reading-book  for  the  Dakotas. 


CHAPTER    X. 

1857-1862.  —  Spirit  Lake.  —  Massacres  by  Inkpadoota.  —  The  Cap 
tives.  —  Delivery  of  Mrs.  Marble  and  Miss  Gardner.  —Excite 
ment.  —  Inkpadoota's  Son  Killed.  —  United  States  Soldiers.  - 
Major  Sherman. — Indian  Councils.  —  Great  Scare. — Goim 
Away.  —  Indians  Sent  After  Scarlet  End.  —  Quiet  Restored.  - 
Children  at  School.  —  Quarter-Century  Meeting.  —  John  P, 
Williamson  at  Red  Wood.  —  Dedication  of  Chapel. 

BY  the  northern  line  of  Iowa,  where  the  head-waten 
of  the  Des  Moines  come  out  of  Minnesota,  is  a  lake,  01 
group  of  lakes,  called  the  "  Minne  Wakan,"  Mysterious 
Water,  or,  as  the  name  goes,  Spirit  Lake.  Sometime 
in  1855,  this  beautiful  spot  of  earth  was  found  and  occu 
pied  by  seven  or  eight  white  families,  far  in  advance  oi 
other  white  settlements.  In  the  spring  of  1857,  there 
were  in  this  neighborhood  and  at  Springfield,  ten  or 
fifteen  miles  above  on  the  Des  Moines,  and  in  Minnesota, 
nearly  fifty  white  persons.  During  the  latter  part  of 
that  winter  the  snows  in  Western  Iowa  and  Minnesota 
were  very  deep,  so  that  traveling  on  the  prairies  was 
attended  with  great  difficulty. 

It  appears  that  during  the  winter  a  few  families  of 
annuity  Sioux,  belonging  to  the  somewhat  roving  band 
of  Leaf  Shooters,  had,  according  to  their  habit,  made  a 
hunting  expedition  down  into  Iowa,  on  the  Little  Sioux. 
Inkpadoota,  or  Scarlet  End,  and  his  sons  were  the  princi 
pal  men.  The  deep  snows  made  game  scarce  and  hunt 
ing  difficult,  so  that  when,  in  the  month  of  March,  this 

162 


FOETY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          163 

party  of  Dakotas  came  into  the  Spirit  Lake  settlement, 
they  were  in  a  bad  humor  from  hunger,  and  attempted  at 
once  to  levy  blackmail  upon  the  inhabitants.  Their 
wishes  not  being  readily  complied  with,  the  Indians  pro 
ceeded  to  help  themselves,  which  at  once  brought  on  a 
conflict  with  the  white  people,  and  the  result  was  that 
the  Indians  massacred  almost  the  entire  settlement,  kill 
ing  about  forty  persons  and  taking  four  women  captive. 

Some  one  carried  the  news  to  Fort  Ridgely,  and  a 
company  of  soldiers  was  sent  out  to  that  part  of  the  coun 
try,  but  with  small  prospect  of  finding  and  punishing  the 
Indians.  The  deep  snows  prevented  rapid  marching, 
and  the  party  of  Scarlet  End,  who  were  still  in  the  Spirit 
Lake  country,  managed  to  see  the  white  soldiers,  albeit 
the  soldiers  could  not  discover  them. 

Soon  after  this  event,  we,  at  the  Yellow  Medicine, 
heard  of  it  by  a  courier  who  came  up  the  Minnesota.  It 
proved  to  be  quite  as  bad  as  represented.  But  nothing 
could  be  done  at  that  season  of  the  year,  either  to  obtain 
the  captives  or  punish  the  perpetrators.  So  the  spring 
passed.  When  the  snows  had  melted  away,  and  the 
month  of  May  had  come,  there  came  a  messenger  from 
Lac-qui-parle  to  Dr.  Williamson  and  myself,  saying  that 
Sounding  Heavens  and  Gray  Foot,  two  sons  of  our 
friend  Spirit  Walker,  had  brought  in  one  of  the  captive 
women  taken  by  Scarlet  End's  party,  and  asking  us  to 
come  up  and  get  her  that  she  might  be  restored  to  her 
friends. 

We  lost  no  time  in  going  up  to  Lac-qui-parle.  At  the 
trader's  establishment,  then  in  the  keeping  of  Weeyooha, 
the  father  of  Nawangmane  win,  who  was  the  wife  of 
Sounding  Heavens,  we  found  Mrs.  Marble,  rather  a 
small  but  good-looking  white  woman,  apparently  not 


164  MARY    AND    I. 

more  than  twenty-five  years  old.  She  was  busily  en 
gaged  with  the  aforesaid  Mrs.  Sounding  Heavens,  in 
making  a  calico  dress  for  herself.  When  I  spoke  to  her 
in  English,  she  was  at  first  quite  reserved.  I  asked  if  she 
wanted  to  return  to  her  friends.  She  replied :  "  I  am 
among  my  friends." 

She  had  indeed  found  friends  in  the  two  young  men 
who  had  purchased  her  from  her  captors.  They  took  her 
to  their  mother's  tent  who  had  many  years  before  be 
come  a  member  of  the  Lac-qui-parle  church,  and  been 
baptized  with  the  Christian  name  of  Rebekah.  They 
clothed  her  up  in  the  best  style  of  Dakota  women.  They 
gave  her  the  best  they  had  to  eat.  They  brought  her  to 
their  planting-place,  and  furnished  her  with  materials 
with  which  to  dress  again  like  a  white  woman.  It  was 
no  wonder  she  said,  "  I  am  among  my  friends."  But, 
after  talking  awhile,  she  concluded  it  would  be  best  for 
her  to  find  her  white  friends.  She  did  not  before  under 
stand  that  these  Dakota  young  men  had  bought  her, 
and  carefully  brought  her  in,  with  the  hope  of  being 
properly  rewarded.  They  were  not  prepared  to  keep  her 
as  a  white  woman,  and  really,  with  her  six  or  seven 
weeks'  experience  as  an  Indian,  she  would  hardly  care  to 
choose  that  kind  of  life. 

Mrs.  Marble's  husband  had  been  killed  with  those  who 
were  slain  at  Spirit  Lake.  Her  story  was  that  four 
white  women  were  reserved  as  captives.  They  were 
made  to  carry  burdens  and  walk  through  the  melting 
snow  and  water.  When  they  came  to  the  Big  Sioux,  it 
was  very  full.  The  Indians  cut  down  a  tree,  and  the 
white  women  were  expected  to  walk  across  on  that.  One 
of  the  woman  fell  off,  and  her  captor  shot  her  in  the 
water.  Her  fellow-captives  thought  she  was  better  off 


FORTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          165 

dead  than  alive.  When  Mrs.  Marble  was  rescued  from 
her  captors,  two  others  still  lived,  Mrs.  Nobles  and  Miss 
Abbie  Gardner.  The  Indians  were  then  west  of  the  Big 
Sioux,  in  the  valley  of  the  James  or  Dakota  River. 

We  took  Mrs.  Marble  down,  accompanied  by  Sounding 
Heavens,  Gray  Foot,  and  their  father,  Wakanmane.  She 
remained  a  few  days  at  our  mission  home  at  Hazelwood, 
and  in  the  meantime  Major  Flandreau,  who  was  then 
Indian  agent,  paid  the  young  men  $500  in  gold,  and  gave 
them  a  promissory  note  for  the  like  amount.  This  was  a 
very  creditable  reward. 

But  what  was  most  important  to  be  done,  just  then,  was 
to  rescue  the  other  two  women,  if  possible.  We  had 
Dakota  men  whom  we  could  trust  on  such  a  mission 
better  than  we  could  trust  ourselves.  There  was  Paul 
Mazakootamane,  the  president  of  the  Hazelwood  Re 
public.  White  people  said  he  was  lazy.  There  was 
truth  in  that.  He  did  not  like  to  work.  But  he  was  a 
real  diplomatist.  He  could  talk  well,  and  he  was  skilled 
in  managing  Indians.  For  such  a  work  there  was  no 
better  man  than  he.  Then,  there  was  John  Otherday, 
the  white  man's  friend.  He  could  not  talk  like  Paul ;  but 
he  had  rare  executive  ability,  and  he  was  a  fearless 
fellow.  There  was  no  better  second  man  than  he.  For 
the  third  man  we  secured  Mr.  Grass.  These  three  we 
selected,  and  the  agent  sent  them  to  treat  for  Miss 
Gardner  and  Mrs.  Nobles.  They  took  with  them  an  extra 
horse  and  a  lot  of  goods.  In  about  three  weeks  they 
returned,  but  only  brought  Miss  Gardner.  Mrs.  Nobles 
had  been  killed  before  they  reached  Scarlet  End's  camp. 

As  a  consequence  of  this  Spirit  Lake  trouble,  we  lived 
in  a  state  of  excitement  all  the  summer.  At  one  time 
the  report  came  that  Inkpadoota's  sons,  one  or  more  of 


166  MARY    AND    1. 

them,  had  ventured  into  the  Yellow  Medicine  settlement. 
News  was  at  once  taken  to  Agent  Flandreau,  who  came 
up  with  a  squad  of  soldiers  from  Fort  Ridgely,  and,  with 
the  help  of  John  Otherday  and  Enos  Good  Hail,  and 
others,  this  son  of  a  murderer  was  killed,  and  his  wife 
taken  prisoner.  The  excitement  was  very  great,  for 
Scarlet  End's  family  had  friends  among  White  Lodge's 
people  at  the  Yellow  Medicine. 

Then  came  up  Maj.  T.  W.  Sherman  with  his  battery. 
The  Spirit  Lake  murderers  must  be  punished,  but  the 
orders  from  Washington  were  that  the  annuity  Indians 
must  do  it.  To  persuade  them  to  undertake  this  was  not 
an  easy  task.  It  is  very  doubtful  whether  the  plan  was 
a  wise  one.  There  were  too  many  Dakotas  who  sympa 
thized  with  Inkpadoota.  This  appeared  in  the  daring  of 
a  young  Dakota,  who  went  into  Major  Sherman's  camp 
and  stabbed  a  soldier.  He  was  immediately  taken  up  and 
placed  under  guard,  but  it  was  a  new  element  in  the 
complication. 

Council  after  council  was  held.  Little  Crow,  and  the 
chiefs  and  people  generally  of  Red  Wood,  were  at  the 
Yellow  Medicine.  The  Indians  said  to  Superintendent 
Cullen  and  Major  Sherman,  "  We  want  you  to  punish  Ink- 
1  adoota;  we  can't  do  it."  But  they  were  told  that  the 
Groat  Father  required  them  to  do  it,  as  a  condition  of 
receiving  their  annuities.  In  the  meantime,  several  hun 
dred  Yanktonais  Sioux  came  over  from  the  James  River, 
who  had  complaints  of  their  own  against  the  government. 
One  day  there  was  a  grand  council  in  progress,  just  out 
side  of  Major  Sherman's  camp.  The  Dakota  who  stabbed 
the  white  soldier  managed  to  get  his  manacles  partly  off, 
and  ran  for  the  council.  The  guard  fired,  and  wounded 
him  in  the  feet  and  ankles,  some  shots  passing  into  the 


FOE-TY    YEAKS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  167 

council  circle.  From  the  Indian  side  guns  were  fired, 
and  the  white  people  fled  to  the  soldiers'  camp,  the 
Dakota  prisoner  being  taken  into  the  keeping  of  his 
friends. 

For  a  while  it  was  uncertain  whether  we  were  to  have 
war  or  peace.  The  hundreds  of  Sioux  teepees,  which 
covered  the  prairie  between  Dr.  Williamson's  place  and 
the  agency,  were  suddenly  taken  down,  and  the  whole 
camp  was  in  motion.  This  looked  like  war.  Dr. 
Williamson  asked  for  a  guard  of  soldiers.  The  request 
could  not  be  granted.  The  doctor  and  his  folks,  they 
said,  could  come  to  the  soldiers'  carnp.  But  in  an  hour 
or  two,  when  the  good  doctor  saw  the  teepees  going  up 
again,  a  couple  of  miles  off,  he  was  content  to  remain 
without  a  guard  —  there  would  not  be  war  just  then. 
The  Dakota  prisoner  could  have  been  reclaimed,  but  it 
was  thought  best  to  let  him  go,  as  the  white  soldier  was 
getting  well. 

That  evening,  when  I  returned  home  from  the  council, 
I  found  Aunt  Ruth  Pettijohn  and  our  children  in  a  state 
of  alarm.  Mary  had  gone  down  below  on  a  visit.  The 
Sioux  camp  was  all  around  us,  and  we  were  five  miles 
away  from  the  soldiers'  camp.  What  might  take  place 
within  a  few  days  we  could  not  tell.  It  seemed  as  if  the 
nervous  strain  would  be  less  if  they  could  go  away  for 
awhile.  And  so  the  next  morning  we  put  our  house  in 
the  charge  of  Simon,  and  we  all  started  down  to  the 
Lower  Sioux  Agency.  We  had  no  settled  plan,  and 
when  we  learned  that  matters  were  being  arranged,  we 
were  at  once  ready  to  return,  having  met  Mary  with  a 
company  of  friends,  who  were  on  their  way  up  to  the 
mission.  Alfred  was  coming  home  to  spend  his  vacation, 
and  had  brought  with  him  a  college  friend;  and  Mrs. 


168  MARY    AND    I. 

Wilson,  a  sister  of  Dr.  Williamson,  and  her  daughter, 
Sophronia,  and  Miss  Maggie  Voris  were  come  to  make  a 
visit. 

When  we  reached  home,  the  Yanktonais  had  departed, 
and  Little  Crow,  with  a  hundred  Dakota  braves,  was 
starting  out  to  seek  Inkpadoota  and  his  band.  They 
came  upon  them  by  a  lake,  and  the  attack  was  reported 
as  made  in  the  night,  in  the  reeds  and  water.  After 
ward,  when  in  Washington,  Little  Crow  claimed  to  have 
killed  a  dozen  or  more,  but  the  claim  was  regarded  by  the 
Indians  as  untrue.  The  campaign  being  over,  the  Indians 
returned  and  received  their  annuities,  and  thus  was  the 
Spirit  Lake  affair  passed  over.  There  was  no  sufficient 
punishment  inflicted.  There  was  no  fear  of  the  white 
soldiers  imparted;  perhaps  rather  a  contempt  for  the 
power  of  the  government  was  the  result  in  the  minds  of 
White  Lodge  and  other  sympathizers  with  Inkpadoota. 
And  even  Little  Crow  and  the  Lower  Sioux  were  educated 
thereby  for  the  outbreak  of  five  years  later. 

Isabella  Burgess  had  been  two  years  in  the  Western 
Female  Seminary,  at  Oxford,  Ohio,  and  Alfred  Long-ley 
was  completing  his  academical  course  at  Knox  College. 
Isabella  came  to  see  him  graduate,  and  then  together 
they  started  for  their  Indian  home  in  Minnesota.  It  was 
about  the  first  of  July,  1858,  and  at  midnight,  when  the 
steamboat  on  which  they  were  traveling,  having  landed 
at  Red  Wing  and  discharged  some  freight,  and  pushed 
out  again  into  the  river,  was  found  to  be  on  fire.  The 
alarm  was  given,  and  the  passengers  waked  up,  and  the 
boat  immediately  turned  again  to  the  landing ;  but  the 
fire,  having  caught  in  some  cotton  bales  on  the  front  deck, 
spread  so  rapidly  that  it  was  with  difficulty  the  passen 
gers  made  their  escape,  the  greater  part  of  them  only  in 


FORTY   YEARS   WITH    THE    SIOUX.  169 

their  night-dress.  Their  baggage  was  all  lost.  But  the 
good  people  of  Red  Wing  cared  for  the  sufferers,  and 
started  them  homeward,  with  such  clothing  as  could  be 
furnished.  Of  the  catastrophe  we  knew  nothing,  until  I 
met  the  children  at  St.  Peter,  whither  they  came  by 
steamboat.  This,  and  what  had  gone  before,  gave  us 
something  of  a  reputation  of  being  a  fiery  family,  and  the 
impression  was  increased  somewhat  when,,  nearly  two 
years  later,  Martha  Taylor,  in  her  second  year  at  Oxford, 
escaped  by  night  from  the  burning  Seminary  building. 

After  Alfred's  return,  in  the  summer  of  1858,  he  spent 
a  year  at  Hazelwood,  in  teaching  a  government  school, 
and  then  joined  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Chicago. 
In  the  summer  of  1860,  the  absent  ones  were  all  at  home. 
During  the  six  years  we  had  been  at  Hazelwood,  two 
other  children  had  been  given  us,  Robert  Baird  and 
Mary  Cornelia  Octavia,  which  made  a  very  respectable 
little  flock  of  eight. 

Twenty-five  years  had  passed  since  Dr.  Williamson 
came  to  the  Dakotas.  Many  changes  had  taken  place. 
It  was  fitting  that  the  two  families  which  remained 
should,  in  some  proper  way,  put  up  a  quarter-century 
milestone.  And  so  we  arranged  an  out-door  gathering, 
at  which  we  had  food  for  the  body  and  food  for  the 
mind.  Among  other  papers  read  at  this  time  was  one 
which  I  prepared  with  some  care,  giving  a  short  bio 
graphical  sketch  of  all  the  persons  who  up  to  that  time 
had  been  connected  with  the  Dakota  mission ;  a  copy  of 
which  was  afterward  placed  in  the  library  of  the  Histori 
cal  Society  of  Minnesota. 

Ever  since  the  removal  of  the  Lower  Indians  up  to 
their  reservation,  there  had  been  several  members  of  Dr. 


170  MAKY    AND    I. 

Williamson's  church  at  Kaposia,  living  near  the  Red 
Wood  Agency.  They  would  form  a  very  good  nucleus 
of  a  church,  and  make  a  good  beginning  for  a  new  sta 
tion.  This  had  been  in  our  thought  for  several  years, 
but  only  when,  in  1861,  John  P.  Williamson  finished  his 
theological  studies  at  Lane  Seminary,  had  we  the  abil 
ity  to  take  possession  of  that  part  of  the  field.  While 
we  waited,  Bishop  Whipple  came  up  and  opened  a  mis 
sion,  placing  there  S.  D.  Hiiiman.  Still,  it  was  thought 
advisable  to  carry  out  our  original  plan,  and,  accord 
ingly,  young  Mr.  Williamson  took  up  his  abode  there, 
organized  a  church  of  ten  or  twelve  members,  and  pro 
ceeded  to  erect  a  chapel.  In  the  last  days  of  the  year 
1861,  I  went  down,  by  invitation,  to  assist  in  the  dedica 
tion  of  the  new  church. 

That  journey,  both  going  and  returning,  was  my 
sorest  experience  of  winter  travel,  but  it  helped  to  start 
forward  this  new  church  organization,  which  was  com 
mencing  very  auspiciously.  Mr.  Williamson  had  his 
arrangements  all  made  to  erect  a  dwelling-house  early 
in  the  next  season.  And  when  the  outbreak  took 
place  in  August,  1862,  as  Providence  would  have  it, 
he  had  gone  to  Ohio,  as  we  all  supposed,  to  consummate 
an  engagement  which  he  had  made  while  in  the  semi 
nary. 


CHAPTER  XL 

1861-1862.  —  Republican  Administration.  —  Its  Mistakes.—  Chang 
ing  Annuities. —  Results.  —  Returning  from  General  Assembly. 

—  A  Marriage  in  St.  Paul.— D.  Wilson  Moore  and  Wife.— 
Delayed    Payment. —  Difficulty  with    the    Sissetons. —  Peace 
Again. —  Recruiting  for  the  Southern  War. —  Seventeenth  of 
August,  1862. —  The  Outbreak. —  Remembering  Christ's  Death. 

—  Massacres   Commenced. —  Capt.    Marsh's    Company. —  Our 
Flight.  —  Reasons  Therefor. —  Escape    to    an    Island.— Final 
Leaving.— A  Wounded  Man.— Traveling  on  the  Prairie. — 
Wet  Night.— Taking  a  Picture.— Change  of  Plan.— Night 
Travel. —  Going  Around  Fort  Ridgely. —  Night  Scares. —  Safe 
Passage. —  Four  Men  Killed. —  The  Lord  Leads  Us. —  Sabbath. 

—  Reaching  the  Settlements. —  Mary  at  St.  Anthony. 

WHEN  President  Lincoln's  administration  commenced, 
we  were  glad  to  welcome  a  change  of  Indian  agents. 
But,  after  a  little  trial,  we  found  that  a  Republican  ad 
ministration  was  quite  as  likely  to  make  mistakes  in  the 
management  of  Indians  as  a  Democratic  one.  Hardly 
had  the  new  order  of  things  been  inaugurated,  in  1861, 
\vhen  Superintendent  Clark  W.  Thompson  announced  to 
the  Sioux  gathered  at  Yellow  Medicine  that  the  Great 
Father  was  going  to  make  them  all  very  glad.  They  had 
received  their  annuities  for  that  year,  but  were  told  that 
the  government  would  give  them  a  further  bounty  in  the 
autumn.  At  one  of  Thompson's  councils,  Paul  made 
one  of  his  most  telling  speeches.  He  presented  many 
^grievances,  which  the  new  administration  promised  to 
redress.  But  when  the  superintendent  was  asked  where 

171 


172  MARY    AND    I. 

this   additional   gift   came   from,   he   could    not    tell  — 

O  / 

only  it  was  to  be  great,  and  would  make   them   very 
glad. 

By  such  words,  the  four  thousand  Upper  Sioux  were 
encouraged  to  expect  great  things.  Accordingly,  the 
Sissetons  from  Lake  Traverse  came  down  in  the  autumn, 
when  the  promised  goods  should  have  been  there,  but 
low  water  in  the  Minnesota  and  Mississippi  delayed 
their  arrival.  The  Indians  waited,  and  had  to  be  fed 
by  Agent  Galbraith.  And  when  the  goods  came  the 
deep  snows  had  come  also,  and  the  season  for  hunting 
was  past.  Moreover,  the  great  gift  was  only  $10,000 
worth  of  goods,  or  $2.50  apiece  !  While  they  had  waited 
many  of  the  men  could  have  earned  from  $50  to  $100  by 
hunting.  It  was  a  terrible  mistake  of  the  government  at 
Washington.  The  result  was  that  of  the  Upper  Sioux 
the  agent  was  obliged  to  feed  more  than  a  thousand  per 
sons  all  winter. 

The  Lower  Sioux  were  suspicious  of  the  matter,  and 
refused  to  receive  their  ten  thousand  dollars'  worth  of 
goods  until  they  could  know  whence  it  came.  By  and 
by  the  Democrats  in  the  country  learned  that  the  admin 
istration  had  determined  on  changing  the  money  annu 
ity  into  goods,  and  had  actually  commenced  the  opera 
tion,  sending  on  the  year  before  $20,000  of  the  $70,000 
which  would  be  due  next  summer.  The  knowledge  of 
this  planning  of  bad  faith  in  the  government  greatly 
exasperated  the  annuity  Indians,  and  was  undoubtedly 
the  primal  cause  which  brought  on  the  outbreak  of  the 
next  summer.  Men  who  were  opposed  to  the  Republican 
administration  and  the  Southern  war  had  now  a  grand 
opportunity  to  work  upon  the  fears  and  the  hopes  of  the 
Indians,  and  make  them  badly  affected  toward  the  gov- 


FOKTY    YEARS   WITH    THE    SIOUX.  173 

ernment.  And  they  seemed  to  have  carried  it  a  little  too 
far,  so  that  when  the  conflict  came  it  was  most  disastrous 
for  them. 

As  the  summer  of  1862  came  on,  the  Washington  gov 
ernment  recognized  their  mistake,  and  sought  to  rectify 
it  by  replacing  the  $20,000  which  had  been  taken  from  the 
money  of  the  July  payment.  But  to  do  this  they  were 
obliged  to  await  a  new  appropriation,  and  this  delayed 
the  bringing  on  of  the  money  full  six  weeks  beyond  the 
regular  time  of  payment.  If  the  money  had  been  on 
hand  the  first  of  July,  instead  of  reaching  Fort  Ridgely 
after  the  outbreak  commenced,  one  can  not  say  but  that 
the  Sioux  war  would  have  been  prevented. 

About  the  first  of  July,  I  returned  from  Ohio,  whither 
I  had  been  to  attend  the  General  Assembly  in  Cincinnati, 
and  to  bring  home  Martha  Taylor,  Avho  had  just  com 
pleted  the  course  at  College  Hill.  After  the  fire  at  Ox 
ford,  she  had  accepted  Rev.  F.  Y.  Vail's  invitation  to  go 
to  his  institution  near  Cincinnati.  There  she  remained 
until  the  end  of  the  year.  Then  Isabella  and  Anna  went 
on  —  the  latter  going  to  Mr.  Vail's  seminary,  and  the  for 
mer  attending  the  senior  class  of  the  Western  Female 
Seminary,  under  a  special  arrangement,  before  the  semi 
nary  was  rebuilt.  So  that  now  both  the  older  girls  had 
completed  the  course. 

On  our  return  this  time,  we  had  with  us  Marion  Robert 
son,  a  young  woman  with  a  little  Dakota  blood,  who  had 
been  spending  some  time  in  Ohio,  and  who  was  affianced 
to  a  Mr.  Hunter,  a  government  carpenter  at  the  Lower 
Sioux  agency.  By  arrangement  Mr.  Hunter  met  us  in 
St.  Paul,  and  I  married  them  one  evening,  in  the  par 
lors  of  the  Merchant's  Hotel.  Six  or  seven  weeks  after 
this,  Mr.  Hunter  was  killed  in  the  outbreak. 


174  MARY    AND    I. 

At  that  marriage  in  the  hotel  were  present  D.  Wilson 
Moore  and  his  bride  from  Fisslerville,  New  Jersey,  near 
Philadelphia.  Mr.  Moore  was  of  the  firm  of  Moore 
Brothers  (engaged  extensively  in  glass-manufacturing), 
had  just  married  a  young  bride,  and  they  had  come  to 
Minnesota  on  their  wedding  trip.  We  had  reached  home 
only  a  few  days  before,  when,  to  our  surprise,  Mr.  Moore 
and  his  wife  drove  up  to  our  mission.  They  had  heard 
that  the  Indian  payment  was  soon  to  be  made,  and  so 
had  come  up ;  but,  not  finding  accommodations  at  the 
agency,  they  came  on  to  see  if  we  would  not  take  them 
in.  We  had  a  large  family,  but  if  they  would  be  satis 
fied  with  our  fare,  and  take  care  of  themselves,  Mary 
would  do  the  best  she  could  for  them.  This  will  account 
for  the  way  in  which  Mrs.  Moore  lost  all  her  silk  dresses. 

The  whole  four  thousand  Indians  were  now  gathered 
at  the  Yellow  Medicine.  The  Sissetons  of  Lake  Traverse 
had  hoed  their  corn  and  come  down.  It  was  the  regular 
time  for  receiving  their  annuities,  before  the  corn  needed 
watching.  But  the  annuity  money  had  not  come.  The 
agent  did  not  know  when  it  would  come.  He  had  riot 
sent  for  them  and  he  could  not  feed  them  —  he  had  barely 
enough  provisions  to  keep  them  while  the  payment  was 
being  made.  The  truth  wras,  he  had  used  up  the  provis 
ions  on  them  in  the  previous  winter.  So  he  told  them 
he  would  give  them  some  flour  and  pork,  and  then  they 
must  go  home  and  wait  until  he  called  them.  They  took 
the  provisions,  but  about  going  home  they  could  not  see 
it  in  that  way.  It  was  a  hundred  miles  up  to  their  plant 
ing-place,  and  to  trudge  up  there  and  back,  with  little  or 
nothing  to  eat,  and  carry  their  tents  and  baggage  and 
children  on  horse-back  and  on  dog-back  and  on  woman- 
back,  was  more  than  they  cared  to  do.  Besides,  there 


FORTY    YEAKS   WITH    THE    SIOUX.  175 

was  nothing  for  them  to  eat  at  home.  They  must  go  out 
on  the  buffalo  hunt,  and  then  they  might  miss  their  money. 
And  so  they  preferred  to  stay,  and  beg  and  steal,  or 
starve. 

But  stealing  and  begging  furnished  but  a  very  scanty 
fare,  and  starving  was  not  pleasant.  The  young  men 
talked  the  matter  over,  and  concluded  that  the  flour  and 
pork  in  the  warehouse  belonged  to  them,  and  there  could 
not  be  much  wrong  in  their  taking  it.  And  so  one  day 
they  marched  up  to  the  storehouse  with  axes  in  hand,  and 
battered  down  the  door.  They  had  commenced  to  carry 
out  the  flour  when  the  lieutenant  with  ten  soldiers  turned 
the  howitzer  upon  them.  This  led  them  to  desist?  for  the 
Dakotas  were  unarmed.  But  they  were  greatly  enraged, 
and  threatened  to  bring  their  guns  and  kill  the  little 
squad  of  white  soldiers.  And  what  made  this  seem  more 
likely,  the  Sioux  tents  were  at  once  struck  and  the  camp 
removed  off  several  miles.  Agent  Galbraith  sent  up  word 
that  he  wanted  help.  And  when  Mr.  Moore  and  I  drove 
down,  he  said,  "  If  there  is  anything  between  the  lids  of 
the  Bible  that  will  meet  this  case,  I  wish  you  would  use 
it."  I  told  him  I  thought  there  was ;  and  advised  him  to 
call  a  council  of  the  principal  men  and  talk  the  thing 
over.  Whereupon  I  went  to  the  tent  of  Standing  Buf 
falo,  the  head  chief  of  the  Sissetons,  and  arranged  for  a 
council  that  afternoon. 

The  chiefs  and  braves  gathered.  The  young  men  who 
had  broken  the  door  down  were  there.  The  Indians 
argued  that  they  were  starving,  and  that  the  flour  and 
pork  in  the  warehouse  had  been  purchased  with  their 
money.  It  was  wrong  to  break  in  the  door,  but  now  they 
would  authorize  the  agent  to  take  of  their  money  and 
repair  the  door.  Whereupon  the  agent  agreed  to  give 


176  MARY    AND    I. 

them  some  provisions,  and  insisted  on  their  going  home, 
which  they  promised  to  do.  The  Sissetons  left  on  the 
morrow,  and  so  far  as  they  were  concerned  the  difficulty 
was  over ;  for  on  reaching  home  they  started  on  a  buffalo 
hunt.  Peace  and  quiet  now  reigned  at  the  Yellow  Medi 
cine.  Mr.  Moore  occupied  himself  in  shooting  pigeons, 
and  we  all  became  quite  attached  to  Mrs.  Moore  and 
himself. 

In  the  meantime  an  effort,  was  made  at  the  agencies, 
among  half-breeds  and  employes,  to  enlist  soldiers  for  the 
Southern  war.  Quite  a  number  were  enlisted,  and  when 
the  trouble  came  Agent  Galbraith  was  below  with  these 
recruits.  Several  strangers  were  in  the  country.  It  was 
afterward  claimed  that  there  were  men  here  in  the  inter 
ests  of  the  South.  I  did  not  see  any  of  that  class.  But 
some  photographers  were  there.  Adrian  J.  Ebell,  a  stu 
dent  of  Yale  College,  was  taking  stereoscopic  views,  and 
a  gentleman  from  St.  Paul  also. 

The  17th  of  August  was  the  Sabbath.  It  was  sacra 
mental  Sabbath  at  Hazelwood.  As  our  custom  was,  botli 
churches  came  together  to  celebrate  the  Lord's  death. 
Our  house  was  well  filled,  and  we  have  always  remem 
bered  that  Sabbath  as  one  of  precious  interest,  for  it  was 
the  last  time  we  were  to  meet  in  that  beautiful  little  mis 
sion  chapel.  A  great  trial  of  our  faith  and  patience  was 
coming  upon  us,  and  we  knew  it  not.  But  the  dear 
Christ  knew  that  both  we  and  the  native  Christians 
needed  just  such  a  quiet  rest  with  him  before  the  trials 
came. 

While  we  at  Hazelwood  and  Pay-zhe-hoo-ta-ze  were 
thus  engaged  on  that  Sabbath  of  August  17th,  the  out 
break  was  commenced  in  the  border  white  settlements 


FORTY  YEAKS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.         177 

at  Acton,  Minn.  As  usual,  the  difficulty  was  com 
menced  at  a  grog-shop.  Some  four  or  five  Indians  made 
demands  which  were  not  complied  with,  whereat  they 
began  to  kill  the  whites.  That  night  they  reached  the 
villages  at  the  Lower  Sioux  Agency,  and  a  council  of 
Avar  was  called. 

Something  of  this  kind  had  been  meditated,  and  talked 
of,  and  prepared  for  undoubtedly.  Some  time  before  this, 
they  had  formed  the  Tee-yo-tee-pe,  or  Soldiers'  Lodge, 
which  is  only  organized  on  special  occasions,  for  the  hunt 
or  for  war.  Some  negotiations  were  probably  going  on 
with  the  Winnebagoes  and  Ojibwas.  But  they  were  not 
perfected.  Several  Winnebagoes  were  at  this  time  at 
the  Lower  Agency,  but  they  do  not  appear  to  have  been 
there  for  the  purpose  of  the  outbreak.  In  the  council 
held  that  night,  Little  Crow  is  reported  to  have  expressed 
his  regret  that  the  matter  was  precipitated  upon  them, 
but  he  yielded  to  the  argument  that  their  hands  were 
now  bloody. 

The  attack  was  commenced  in  the  early  morning  at  the 
stores,  Mr.  James  W.  Lynd,  at  Myrick's  store,  being  the 
first  white  man  shot  down.  So  the  ball  rolled.  Many 
were  killed  and  some  escaped.  Word  of  the  rising  was 
carried  to  Fort  Ridgely,  and  Captain  Marsh  was  sent  up 
to  quell  it.  The  Indians  met  his  company  of  fifty  men  at 
the  ferry,  and  killed  half  of  them  there,  the  rest  making 
their  escape  with  difficulty.  These  things  had  been  going 
on  during  the  day,  forty  miles  from  us,  but  we  knew  it 
not.  Five  miles  below,  at  the  Yellow  Medicine,  they  had 
heard  of  it  by  noon.  The  Indians  gathered  to  consult 
what  they  would  ,do.  Some,  we  learned,  gave  their  voice 
for  killing  the  white  people,  but  more  were  in  favor  of 
only  taking  the  goods  and  property.  The  physician  at 


178  MARY    AND   I. 

the  Yellow  Medicine  was  absent,  and  a  young  man  started 
down  that  day  with  the  doctor's  wife  and  children  in  a 
buggy.  Before  they  reached  Red  Wood,  they  were  met 
by  two  Dakota  men  —  the  white  man  was  killed  and  the 
woman  and  children  taken  captive. 

The  sun  was  getting  low  Monday  evening  when  we  at 
Hazelwood  heard  of  what  was  going  on.  Mr.  Antoine 
Reriville,  one  of  the  elders  of  my  church,  came  running 
in  much  excited,  and  said  the  Indians  were  killing  white 
people.  We  thought  it  must  be  only  a  drinking  quarrel. 
The  statement  needed  to  be  repeated  and  particularized 
somewhat  before  we  could  believe  it.  Soon  others  came 
in  and  told  more.  Blackness  seemed  to  be  gathering 
upon  all  faces.  The  parents  came  to  the  boarding-school 
and  took  away  their  children.  For  several  years  Mary 
had  kept  Angelique  and  Agnes  Renville.  At  this  time, 
the  older  one  was  in  Ohio,  and  the  younger  one  went 
home  with  her  mother. 

Jonas  Pettijohn,  an  old  associate  in  mission  work  at 
Lac-qui-parle,  had  been  for  some  years  a  government 
teacher  at  Red  Iron's  village,  about  fifteen  miles  above 
us.  He  had  now  been  released,  and  was  removing  his 
family.  Mrs.  Pettijohn  and  the  children  had  reached  our 
house.  Mr.  Pettijohn  came  in  the  dusk  of  the  evening 
with  his  last  load,  which  he  was  bringing  with  my  horse 
team.  The  Indian  men  who  had  brought  down  his 
goods,  when  they  heard  of  the  6meute,  started  back  im 
mediately,  and,  meeting  Mr.  Pettijohn,  took  the  horses. 
They  justified  themselves  by  sayi-ng  that  somebody  would 
take  them. 

Thus,  as  the  darkness  came  on,  we  became  sure  that 
our  Dakota  friends  believed  the  reports.  In  the  gloaming, 
strange  men  appeared  at  our  stables,  and  others  of  our 


FORTY  YEAES  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          179 

horses  were  taken.  A  dozen  of  our  neighbor  men  came, 
and  said  they  would  stand  guard  with  their  guns.  As  the 
evening  progressed,  we  sent  a  messenger  down  to  the 
Yellow  Medicine,  who  brought  word  that  the  stores  were 
surrounded  by  Indians,  and  would  be  broken  in  soon. 
Mr.  Givens,  the  sub-agent,  sent  up  a  note  asking  me  to 
come  down  very  early  in  the  morning.  Some  of  the 
Christian  Dakota  women  gathered  into  our  house,  and  we 
prayed,  and  sang  "  God  is  the  refuge  of  his  saints." 

It  was  after  midnight  before  we  thought  of  leaving. 
The  young  folks  had  lain  down  and  slept  awhile.  By 
and  by  Paul  came,  and  asked  me  to  give  him  some  blue 
cloth  I  had  on  hand  — he  must  dress  like  an  Indian,  to  be 
safe.  And  they  evidently  began  to  feel  that  we  might 
not  be  safe,  and  that  our  staying  would  endanger  them. 
This  was  made  the  more  serious  because  of  Mrs.  Moore 
and  our  three  grown  daughters.  Indian  men  would  kill 
us  to  get  possession  of  them.  Thus  the  case  was  stated 
by  our  neighbors.  Afterward  we  had  good  reason  to  know 
that  they  reasoned  rightly. 

And  so  we  waked  up  the  children  and  made  prepara 
tions  to  depart.  But  it  was  only  to  be  temporary.  The 
plan  was  to  go  down  to  an  island  in  the  Minnesota  River, 
and  remain  until  the  danger  was  overpast.  Mr.  Moore 
looked  to  his  revolver,  the  only  reliable  weapon  among 
us.  Thomas  and  Henry  got  their  double-barrel  shot-gun. 
Mary  put  up  a  bag  of  provisions,  but,  unfortunately,  we 
forgot  it  when  we  departed.  Fortunately  again,  it  was 
brought  to  us  in  the  morning  by  Zoe,  a  Dakota  woman. 
Each  one  had  a  little  baggage,  but  there  was  not 
enough  extra  clothing  in  the  company  to  make  them  com 
fortable  at  night.  When  the  daylight  came,  we  were  all 
over  on  the  island,  but  our  team  was  left,  and  was  stolen, 


180  MAEY    AND   I. 

with  the  exception  of  one  horse.  So  we  were  in  rather 
a  helpless  condition  as  regards  further  escape. 

On  this  little  island  we  were  away  from  the  excitement 
and  present  danger ;  but  how  long  it  would  be  safe  for  us 
to  remain  there  was  quite  uncertain.  We  could  trust  our 
own  Indians  that  we  should  not  be  personally  injured  ; 
but  how  soon  strange  Indians  would  find  our  hiding- 
place,  we  could  not  tell.  During  the  forenoon  I  crossed 
back  and  went  to  the  village,  to  learn  the  progress  of 
events.  They  did  not  seem  to  be  encouraging.  The 
stores  at  the  Yellow  Medicine  had  been  sacked.  The 
white  people  had  all  left  in  the  early  morning,  being  con 
voyed  by  John  Otherday.  The  only  safe  course  open  to 
us  appeared  to  be  in  getting  away  also.  It  was  after 
midday  when  we  learned  that  Andrew  Hunter  and  Dr. 
Williamson's  young  folks  had  succeded  in  coming  away 
with  both  a  horse  team  and  an  ox  team.  They  had  some 
flour  and  other  provisions  with  them,  and  had  driven  along 
the  doctor's  cattle.  Moreover,  they  had  succeeded  in 
crossing  the  Minnesota  at  a  point  a  mile  or  two  below 
where  we  then  were.  From  the  island  we  could  wade 
over  to  the  north  side.  This  we  proceeded  to  do,  leaving 
the  only  trunk  that  had  been  brought  this  far,  by  Mr. 
Cunningham's  sister. 

Andrew  Hunter  drove  one  of  his  wagons  around  on 
the  prairie  to  meet  our  party  as  we  emerged  from  the 
ravine,  each  carrying  a  little  bundle.  The  women  and 
children  who  could  not  walk  were  arranged  with  the 
bundles  in  the  wagon.  Mr.  Cunningham  was  successful 
in  getting  one  of  his  horses  —  the  other  had  been  appro 
priated  by  an  Indian,  together  with  mine.  His  one  horse 
he  attached  to  my  buggy  and  brought  it  over  the  river, 
and  we  proceeded  to  join  the  rest  of  Mr.  Hunter's  party. 


FORTY   YEARS   WITH    THE    SIOUX.  181 

Two  or  three  families  of  government  employes  from  the 
saw-mill  had  found  their  way  to  our  missionary  company. 
Thus  constituted,  we  started  for  the  old  crossing  of  Hawk 
River,  some  six  or  eight  miles  distant. 

While  we  were  still  in  sight  of  the  river  bluffs,  we  dis 
covered  a  man  coining  after  us.  He  was  evidently  a 
white  man,  and  hobbled  along  with  difficulty,  as  though 
lie  were  wounded.  We  stopped  until  he  overtook  us. 
It  proved  to  be  a  man  by  the  name  of  Orr,  whose  com 
rades  had  been  killed  up  near  the  mouth  of  the  Chip- 
pewa,  and  he  escaped  in  a  crippled  condition.  Our 
wagons  were  more  than  full,  but  we  could  make  room 
for  a  wounded  white  man.  About  this  time  a  rain  shower 
came  upon  us,  which  was  a  Godsend  in  many  ways,  al 
though  it  made  camping  that  night  rather  unpleasant. 

When  night  overtook  us,  we  were  across  the  stream,  — 
Hawk  River,  —  and  we  lay  down  to  rest  and  consider 
what  should  be  our  course  on  the  morrow.  In  the  morn 
ing,  we  had  decided  to  cross  the  country,  or  endeavor  to 
do  so,  toward  Hutchinson  or  Glencoe.  But  the  country 
was  not  familiar  to  us.  We  frequently  found  ourselves 
stopped  in  our  course  by  a  slough  which  was  not  easy  to 
cross.  Still,  we  kept  on  our  way  during  Wednesday,  and 
in  the  afternoon  there  fell  to  us  four  men  from  Otherday's 
party.  These  men  all  had  guns  which  were  not  of  much 
account.  They  belonged  at  New  Ulm,  and  did  not  want 
to  go  to  Hutchinson.  But  they  continued  with  us  that 
day. 

The  evening  came  with  a  slow  continued  rain.  The 
first  night  we  were  out,  the  smaller  children  had  cried 
for  home.  The  second  night,  some  of  the  older  children 
would  have  cried  if  it  had  been  of  any  use.  We  had  no 
shelter.  The  wagons  were  no  protection  against  the  con- 


182  MARY    AND    I. 

tin iied  rain,  but  it  was  rather  natural  to  crawl  under 
them.  The  drop,  drop,  DKOP,  all  night  long  from  the 
wagon-beds,  on  the  women  and  children,  who  had  not 
more  than  half  covering  in  that  cold  August  rain,  was 
not  promotive  of  cheerfulness.  Mrs.  Moore  looked  sad 
and  disheartened,  and  to  my  question  as  to  how  she  did 
she  replied  that  one  might  as  well  die  as  live  under  such 
circumstances. 

Thursday  morning  found  us  cold  and  wet,  and  entirely 
out  of  cooked  food.  Since  the  first  night  we  had  not 
been  where  we  could  obtain  wood.  And  then,  and  since, 
we  should  have  been  afraid  to  kindle  a  fire,  lest  the  smoke 
should  betray  us.  But  now  it  was  necessary  that  we 
should  find  wood  as  soon  as  possible.  And  so  our  course 
was  taken  toward  a  clump  of  trees  which  were  in  sight. 
When  we  came  into  their  neighborhood,  about  noon,  we 
found  them  entirely  surrounded  by  water.  But  the  men 
waded  in  and  brought  wood  enough  for  the  purposes  of 
camping.  There  we  spent  the  afternoon  and  night. 
There  we  killed  one  of  the  cows.  And  there  we  baked 
bread  and  roasted  meat  on  the  coals,  having  neither  pot 
nor  kettle  nor  pan  to  do  it  in.  And  while  we  were 
eating^  Mr.  Ebell  fixed  up  his  apparatus  and  took  a  very 
good  stereoscopic  picture  of  the  party. 

We  had  discovered  from  surveyor's  stakes  that  we 
were  making  slow  progress,  and  so  we  decided,  as  we 
started  Friday  morning,  to  abandon  our  plan  of  going  to 
Hutchinson,  and  turn  down  to  the  old  Lac-qui-parle  road, 
which  would  lead  us  to  Fort  Ridgely.  This  road  we 
reached  in  time  to  take  our  noon  rest  at  Birch  Coolie, 
nearly  opposite  the  Lower  Sioux  Agency,  where  the  mas 
sacres  had  commenced.  We  were  not  much  posted  in 
what  had  taken  place  there.  Mr,  Hunter  rode  over  to 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  183 

see  his  house,  only  a  couple  of  miles  distant.  There  he 
met  Tatemema  (Round  Wind),  an  old  Indian  whom  he 
knew,  who  told  him  to  hurry  on  to  the  fort,  as  all  the 
white  people  had  been  killed  or  had  fled.  Just  as  we 
were  starting  from  this  place,  a  team  came  in  sight,  which 
proved  to  be  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Williamson  and  Aunt  Jane 
with  an  ox  team.  They  had  remained  until  Wednesday 
morning,  and  thought  to  stay  through  the  trouble,  but 
finally  concluded  it  was  best  to  leave  and  follow  us.  Our 
company  nowr  numbered  over  forty,  but  it  was  a  very 
defenceless  one. 

We  were  sixteen  miles  from  Fort  Ridgely,  and  our 
thought  was  to  go  in  there  under  cover  of  the  night. 
The  darkness  came  on  us  when  we  were  still  seven  or 
eight  miles  away ;  and  then  in  the  gloaming  there  ap 
peared  on  a  little  hill-top  two  Indians  on  horseback. 
They  might  bring  a  war-party  upon  us.  And  so  we  put 
ourselves  in  the  best  position  for  defence.  Martha  and 
Anna  had  generally  walked  with  the  boys.  Now  they 
piled  on  the  wagons,  and  the  men  and  boys,  with  such 
weapons  as  we  had,  marched  by  their  side.  As  the  night 
came  on,  we  began  to  observe  lights  as  of  burning  build 
ings,  and  rockets  thrown  up  fr^m  the  garrison.  What 
could  the  latter  mean  ?  We  afterward  learned  they  were 
signals  of  distress ! 

In  our  one-horse  buggy,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hunter  drove 
ahead  of  the  party,  and  he  crawled  into  the  garrison. 
He  found  that  the  Indians  had  beleaguered  them,  had 
set  fire  to  all  the  out-buildings  of  the  fort,  appropriated 
all  their  stock,  had  been  fighting  all  day,  and  ha<5  retired 
to  the  ravine  as  the  night  came  on.  The  fort  was  al 
ready  crowded  with  women  and  children,  and  scantily 
manned  by  soldiers.  We  could  come  in,  they  said,  but 


184  MARY    AND    I. 

our  teams  would  be  taken  by  the  Indians.  They  ex 
pected  the  attack  would  be  renewed  the  next  day. 

When  Mr.  Hunter  returned,  we  stopped  in  the  road 
and  held  a  hasty  consultation,  as  we  were  in  a  good  deal 
of  fear  that  we  were  even  now  followed.  We  had  just 
passed  a  house  where  the  dogs  alone  remained  to  bark, 
which  they  did  furiously.  And  just  then  some  of  the 
party,  walking  by  the  side  of  our  wagons,  stumbled  over 
the  dead  body  of  a  man.  There  was  no  time  to  lose. 
We  decided  not  to  go  in,  but  to  turn  out  and  go  around 
the  fort  and  its  beleaguering  forces,  if  possible.  The 
four  men  who  had  fallen  to  our  company  —  three  Ger 
mans  and  an  Irishman  —  dissented.  But  we  told  them 
no  one  should  leave  us  until  we  were  past  the  danger. 
And,  to  prevent  any  desertion  in  this  our  hour  of  trial, 
Mr.  Moore  cocked  his  revolver  and  would  shoot  down 
the  man  who  attempted  to  leave. 

It  was  ten  o'clock,  and  the  night  was  dark.  We 
turned  square  off  the  road,  and  went  up  northward  to 
seek  an  old  ford  over  the  little  stream  that  runs  down  by 
the  fort.  The  Lord  guided  us  to  the  right  place,  but 
while  we  were  hunting  in  the  willows  for  the  old  unused 
road,  there  was  a  cry  heqyrd  so  much  like  a  human  cryjthat 
we  were  all  quite  startled.  We  thought  it  was  the  signal 
of  an  attack  by  the  Indians.  Probably  it  was  only  the 
cry  of  a  fox.  Just  then  Dr.  Williamson  came  to  me  and 
said  perhaps  he  had  counselled  wrongly,  and  that,  if  it 
was  thought  best,  he  was  quite  willing  to  go  back  to  the 
fort.  But  I  replied  that  we  were  now  almost  around  it, 
and  it  \fould  be  unwise  to  go  back.  And  so  we  traveled 
on  over  the  ravine  and  up  on  the  broad  prairie  beyond, 
and  received  no  harm.  Our  pulses  began  to  beat  less 
furiously  as  we  traveled  on  toward  three  o'clock  in  the 


FORTY    YEAKS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  185 

morning,  and  felt  that  we  were  out  of  sight  and  hearing 
of  the  Sioux  warriors.  So  we  stopped  to  rest  our  weary 
cattle.  Some  slept  for  an  hour,  but  the  greater  part  kept 
watch. 

As  we  were  around  the  fort,  and  around  the  danger 
so  far  as  we  knew,  it  was  understood  that  the  four  men 
who  wanted  to  leave  in  the  night,  might  leave  us  in  the 
morning.  And  as  it  was  possible  they  might  have  an  op 
portunity  to  send  a  letter  to  Governor  Ramsay  before  we 
should,  Dr.  Williamson  and  I  attempted  to  write  some 
thing  by  starlight.  But  nothing  came  of  that  letter. 
When  the  light  began  to  dawn  in  the  east,  our  party 
was  aroused  and  moving  forward.  We  had  been  guided 
aright  in  the  night  travel,  for  here  we  were  at  the  old 
Lac-qui-parle  crossing  of  Mud  River.  Here  the  four 
men  left  us,  and  as  the  sun  arose  we  saw  the  sheen  of 
their  guns  as  they  were  entering  a  little  wood  two  or 
three  miles  away.  And  only  a  little  while  after  that  we 
heard  the  report  of  guns;  the  poor  fellows  had  fallen  in 
with  the  Sioux  army,  which  in  that  early  morning  were 
on  their  march  to  attack  New  Ulm.  We  did  not  know 
their  fate  until  afterward. 

Our  party  now  fell  into  the  road  that  leads  to  Hender 
son,  and  traveled  all  that  Saturday  in  safety.  But  on 
the  St.  Peter  road,  five  or  six  miles  to  our  right,  we 
saw  the  burning  stacks  and  houses,  and  afterward  knew 
that  the  Sioux  were  on  that  road  killing  white  people  all 
that  day.  It  was  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  when  we 
came  to  a  deserted  house.  The  dishes  were  on  the  table. 
We  found  cream  and  butter  in  the  cellar  and  potatoes 
and  corn  in  the  garden.  We  stopped  and  cooked  and 
ate  a  good  square  meal,  of  which  we  were  greatly  in 
need.  Then  we  pushed  on  and  came  to  another  house 


186  MARY   AND    I. 

some  time  after  nightfall,  which  was  deserted  by  the 
humans,  but  the  cattle  were  there.  Here  we  spent  the 
night,  and  would  have  been  glad  to  rest  the  Sabbath, 
but  as  yet  there  was  too  much  uncertainty.  Three  or 
four  hours'  travel,  however,  brought  us  to  a  cross-roads, 
where  the  whole  settlement  seemed  to  have  gathered. 
We  there  learned  that  a  company  of  troops  had  passed 
up,  and  had  turned  across  to  St.  Peter.  This  seemed 
to  be  a  guarantee  of  safety,  and  so  we  rested  the  re 
mainder  of  the  day,  gathering  in  the  afternoon  to  wor 
ship  Him  who  had  been  and  was  our  deliverer  and 
guide. 

All  the  events  of  the  week  past  appeared  so  strange. 
We  had  hardly  found  any  time  to  consider  them.  But 
often  the  thought  came  to  us,  What  will  become  of  our 
quarter-century's  work  among  the  Dakotas  ?  It  seemed 
to  be  lost.  We  could  see  no  good  way  out  of  the  diffi 
culties.  As  we  came  into  the  settlements,  we  began  to 
learn  something  of  the  terribleness  of  the  emeute,  how 
the  Indians  had  spread  terror  and  death  all  along  the 
frontier.  And  still  their  deadly  work  was  going  on.  In 
the  dusk  of  the  Sabbath  evening  we  talked  over  mat 
ters  a  little,  as  we  planned  to  separate  in  the  morning. 
Some  pecuniary  adjustments  were  made,  D.  Wilson 
Moore  being  the  only  one  who  had  any  money.  But  all 
the  party  exchanged  promises. 

In  the  morning  of  Monday,  Dr.  Williamson  and  his 
part  of  the  company  started  across  to  St.  Peter.  There 
remained  only  Mr.  Moore  and  wife,  and  Adrian  J.  Ebel! 
and  my  family,  and  we  had  the  use  of  an  ox  team  to 
take  us  to  Shakopee.  It  was  twelve  miles  to  Henderson. 
When  we  came  to  the  brow  of  the  hill  above  the  town, 
we  were  met  by  several  women  who  were  strangers  to  us. 


FOKTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          187 

They  rushed  up  and  grasped  our  hands.  I  asked  what 
they  knew  of  us.  They  said,  "We  have  white  hearts, 
and  we  heard  you  were  all  killed."  Our  young  folks  had 
worn  out  their  shoes,  and  their  feet  also,  by  walking 
through  the  sharp  grass,  and  needed  something  to  wear. 
When  these  wants  were  attended  to,  and  we  all  had  par 
taken  of  a  good  dinner  at  the  hotel,  we  started  on  — 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Moore  taking  the  little  steamboat  to  St. 
Paul.  When  they  arrived  there,  Mr.  Shaw,  of  the 
Merchant's  Hotel  telegraphed  back  to  Mr.  John  Moore 
of  Philadelphia  of  their  arrival.  He  had  just  before 
received  an  urgent  telegram,  "Get  the  bodies  at  any 
cost." 

On  our  way  to  Shakopee  we  were  met  by  our  old 
friend  S.  W.  Pond,  who  had  been  trying  for  days  to 
ascertain  whether  the  report  of  our  being  killed  was  true 
or  not.  He  gave  Mary  and  the  children  a  cordial  wel 
come  to  his  home.  They  remained  there  a  few  days,  and 
then  went  on  to  G.  H.  Pond's,  and  from  thence  to  St. 
Anthony,  where  Mary  found  an  old  personal  friend  in 
Mrs.  McKee,  the  wife  of  the  pastor  of *the  Presbyterian 
church.  They  also  found  friends  in  all  the  good  families, 
and  soon  rented  a  house  and  commenced  living  by  them 
selves,  the  neighbors  helping  them  to  many  articles  which 
they  needed. 

On  hearing  of  the  outbreak,  Alfred,  who  had  been 
preaching  a  few  months  at  Lockport,  111.,  furnished  him 
self  with  a  revolver,  and  hastened  up  to  see  what  could 
be  done.  But,  meeting  the  family  at  Shakopee,  he  re 
turned  to  Illinois  without  making  any  demonstration  of 
prowess,  taking  with  him  Anna,  and,  after  she  was  some 
what  recruited,  sending  her  to  Kockford  Female  Semi 
nary. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

1862.  —  General  Sibley's  Expedition.  —  I  Go  as  Chaplain. —At 
Fort  Bidgely.  —  The  Burial  Party.  —  Birch  Coolie  Defeat.  — 
Simon  and  Lorenzo  Bring  in  Captives.  —  March  to  Yellow 
Medicine. — Battle  of  Wood  Lake. — Indians  Flee.  —  Camp 
Release.  —  A  Hundred  Captives  Rescued.  —  Amos  W.  Huggins 
Killed.— We  Send  for  His  Wife  and  Children.  —  Spirit  Walker 
Has  Protected  Them.  —  Martha's  Letter. 

WHEN  Mary  and  the  children  had  safely  reached 
friends  and  civilization  at  Mr.  Pond's,  I  was  pressed  in 
spirit  with  the  thought  that  I  might  have  some  duty  to 
perform  in  the  Indian  country.  At  Lac-qui-parle,  twenty- 
five  miles  beyond  our  station  at  Hazelwood,  were  Amos 
W.  Huggins,  with  wife  and  children,  and  Miss  Julia  La 
Framboise.  They  had  been  in  the  employ  of  the  gov 
ernment  as  teachers  at  Wakanmane's  village.  What  had 
befallen  them,  we  knew  not;  but  we  knew  that  white  men 
had  been  killed  between  our  place  and  Lac-qui-parle. 
Then,  our  native  church  members  —  they  might  need 
help.  And  so  I  took  a  boat  at  Shakopee,  and  went  down 
to  St.  Paul,  and  offered  my  services  to  Governor  Ram 
say,  in  whatever  capacity  he  chose  to  put  me.  He 
immediately  commissioned  me  as  chaplain  to  General 
Sibley's  expedition.  The  last  day  of  August  I  was  at 
St.  Peter,  where  I  learned  from  Mr.  Huggins'  friends 
the  story  that  he  had  been  killed,  and  that  his  wife  and 
children  were  captives.  In  regard  to  them  I  received  a 
special  charge  from  Mrs.  Holtsclaw,  and  I  conceived  a 
plan  of  immediately  sending  for  Mrs.  Huggins.  But  cir- 

188 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  189 

cumstances  made  it  impossible  to  carry  out  that  plan  for 
several  weeks. 

The  next  day,  Sabbath  though  it  was,  I  rode  up  with 
Colonel  Marshall  and  others  to  Fort  Ridgely,  where  Gen 
eral  Sibley's  command  was  encamped.  He  was  waiting 
for  reinforcements  and  ammunition  supplies.  At  the  first 
news  of  the  massacres,  a  large  number  of  citizens  had 
impressed  their  neighbors'  horses,  and  had  started  for  the 
Indian  country.  Many  of  them  were  poor  riders,  and 
they  were  all  poorly  armed.  They  were  without  military 
organization  and  drill,  and  were  felt  to  be  an  element  of 
weakness  rather  than  strength.  A  night  or  two  before  I 
reached  the  camp,  a  couple  of  shots  had  been  fired,  sup 
posed  to  have  been  by  Indians.  The  drum  beat  the 
"  long  roll,"  and  the  men  that  formed  this  "  string-bean 
cavalry,"  as  they  were  called,  crawled  under  the  wagons. 
The  next  morning  many  of  them  had  had  a  clairvoyant 
communication  with  their  families  at  home,  and  learned 
that  their  wives  were  sick.  They  were  permitted  to 
depart. 

Three  days  before,  a  detachment  of  cavalry  and  infan 
try  had  been  sent  up  as  far  as  the  Lower  Sioux  Agency, 
to  find  and  bury  the  dead.  They  had  done  their  work, 
as  they  supposed,  and  crossed  back  to  the  north  side  of 
the  Minnesota,  without  seeing  any  Indians.  As  the  sun 
was  setting  on  that  Sabbath  evening,  they  ascended  the 
hill  and  made  their  camp  on  the  top  of  the  Birch  Coolie 
bluff.  But  the  Sioux  had  discovered  them,  and  that 
night  they  were  surrounded  by  twice  their  own  number 
of  the  enemy.  In  the  early  morning  the  attack  was  made 
and  kept  up  all  day.  The  report  of  the  musketry  was 
heard  at  General  Sibley's  camp,  eighteen  miles  away,  but 
the  reverberation  made  by  the  Minnesota  hills  placed  the 


190  MARY   AND   I. 

conflict  apparently  within  six  or  eight  miles.  A  detach 
ment  sent  to  their  relief  soon  returned,  because,  after 
they  had  gone  a  short  distance,  they  could  hear  nothing. 
But  the  firing  still  continued,  and  another  detachment, 
with  a  howitzer,  was  sent,  with  orders  to  go  on  until  the 
absent  ones  were  found. 

The  sun  was  low  when  a  messenger  came  from  the 
troops  last  sent.  The  Indians  were  in  such  large  force 
that  they  did  not  dare  risk  a  conflict,  and  so  had  retired 
to  the  prairie.  General  Sibley's  whole  force  was  then 
put  in  readiness,  and  we  had  a  night  inarch  up  to  Birch 
Coolie.  The  relief  detachment  was  reached,  and  an  hour 
or  two  of  rest  obtained  before  the  morning  light. 

When  our  camp  was  in  motion,  the  Indians  came 
against  us  and  surrounded  us ;  but,  soon  perceiving  that 
the  force  was  not  what  they  had  seen  the  night  before, 
they  commenced  making  their  escape,  and  we  marched 
on  to  the  original  camp.  It  was  a  sad  sight  —  dead 
men  and  dead  horses  lying  in  the  hastily  dug  breastworks. 
Twelve  men  were  found  dead,  whom  we  buried  in  one 
grave.  Thirty  or  forty  were  wounded,  and  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  ninety  horses  were  lying  dead.  The  camp 
had  suffered  greatly  for  want  of  water,  as  the  Indians  had 
cut  them  off  entirely  from  the  stream. 

This  defeat  showed  more  clearly  than  before  the  neces 
sity  of  being  well  prepared  before  an  advance  was  made 
upon  the  hostile  Sioux.  It  also  served  to  rouse  Minne 
sota  thoroughly  —  a  number  of  the  killed  and  wounded 
in  this  battle  were  St.  Paul  men.  But  the  middle  of 
September  had  come  and  gone  before  General  Sibley  felt 
ready  to  move  up  the  river.  In  the  meantime,  while  we 
were  still  at  Ridgely,  Simon  Anawangmane  came  down 
by  land,  and  brought  Mrs.  Newman  and  her  children  to 


FORTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          191 

our  camp.  And  Lorenzo  Lawrence  brought  in  canoes 
Mrs.  De  Camp  and  children  and  others. 

Mrs.  Newman  had  been  taken  captive  by  the  Lower 
Sioux,  and  when  they  reached  the  Yellow  Medicine,  she 
was  apparently  allowed  by  those  who  had  her  to  go  where 
she  pleased.  One  day  she  came  to  Simon's  tent,  and, 
hearing  them  sing  and  pray,  she  felt  like  trusting  herself 
and  children  rather  to  Simon  than  to  the  others.  When 
the  camp  started  to  go  farther  north,  Simon  stayed 
behind,  and  then,  placing  Mrs,  N.  and  her  children  in  his 
one-horse  wagon,  and  hitching  to  his  horse,  he  and  his 
son  brought  them  down.  Mrs.  De  Camp's  husband  had 
been  severely  wounded  in  the  battle  of  Birch  Coolie,  and 
had  died  only  a  couple  of  days  before  she  and  the  chil 
dren  were  brought  in.  Lorenzo  also  brought  with  him  a 
large  English  church  Bible,  and  my  own  personal  copy 
of  Dakota  grammar  and  dictionary,  which  I  prized  very 
highly. 

The  21st  of  September,  or  five  weeks  after  the  outbreak 
commenced,  we  were  marching  by  the  Lower  Sioux 
Agency  and  Red  Wood,  and  getting  an  impression  of 
what  the  emeute  had  been,  in  occasionally  finding  a  dead 
body,  and  seeing  the  ruins  of  the  buildings.  The  Sioux 
were  now  watching  our  movements  closely.  Indeed, 
they  had  kept  themselves  informed  of  our  motions  all 
along.  It  was  this  day,  at  the  Red  Wood,  John  Otherday 
went  into  a  plum-orchard  and  left  his  horse  a  little  way 
out.  One  of  the  hostiles  who  had  been  hidden  there  jumped 
on  it  and  rode  off.  This  made  Otherday  greatly  ashamed. 
The  night  of  the  22d  we  camped  on  the  margin  of  Wood 
Lake,  within  three  miles  of  the  Yellow  Medicine.  Here 
we  were  to  rest  the  next  day  and  wait  for  a  train  that 
was  behind. 


192  MARY    AND    I. 

At  the  Yellow  Medicine  were  fields  of  corn  and  pota 
toes,  and  some  of  our  men  mere  anxious  to  add  to  their 
store  of  provisions.  Accordingly,  before  our  breakfast 
was  over  at  General  Sibley's  tent,  some  soldiers  in  a  wagon 
were  fired  upon  and  two  of  them  killed  by  Sioux  con 
cealed  in  a  little  ravine  about  a  half  a  mile  from  our  camp. 
This  brought  on  the  battle.  Almost  immediately  the 
hills  around  were  seen  to  be  covered  with  Indians  on  foot 
and  on  horseback.  The  battle  lasted  for  two  or  three 
hours.  The  Sioux  had  compelled  every  man  in  their  camp, 
which  was  twenty  miles  above,  to  come  down,  except 
John  B.  Renville.  They  were  playing  their  last  card, 
and  they  lost.  When  it  was  over,  we  gathered  up  and 
buried  sixteen  dead  and  scalped  Indians,  and  four  of  our 
own  men.  Besides,  we  had  a  large  number  of  wounded 
soldiers.  This  battle  made  H.  H.  Sibley  a  brigadier-gen 
eral. 

Thus  the  Indians  were  beaten  and  retired.  During 
the  fight  John  Otherday  captured  a  Dakota  pony,  and  so 
made  good  the  loss  of  his  stolen  horse.  Simon  Anawang- 
mane  was  wounded  in  the  foot  in  passing  out  to  the  hos 
tile  Sioux  and  back  to  our  camp ;  and  the  younger  Simon 
was  brought  in  wounded,  and  died  some  days  afterward. 
The  day  following  this  battle,  our  camp  was  removed  to  a 
point  beyond  the  mission  station  at  Hazelwood.  As  I 
rode  down  to  see  the  ruins  of  our  buildings,  some  of  our 
soldiers  were  emptying  a  cache  near  where  our  house  had 
stood.  The  books  they  threw  out  I  found  were  from  my 
own  library.  A  part  of  these  and  some  other  things 
which  were  in  good  condition  I  secured.  They  had  been 
buried  by  our  friends. 

The  next  day  was  the  26th  of  September,  when  we 
pushed  on  to  Camp  Release,  where  the  friendly  Dakotas 


FORTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          193 

were  encamped.  The  hostiles  and  such  as  feared  to 
remain  had  fled  to  the  British  Possessions.  The  friendly 
Indians  had  by  some  means  come  into  the  possession  of 
almost  all  the  captive  white  women  and  children.  One 
of  our  chief  objects  in  pursuing  the  campaign  had  been 
to  prevent  the  killing  of  these  captives.  Little  Crow 
had  written  to  General  Sibley  that  he  had  many  cap 
tives  ;  and  General  Sibley  had  replied,  "  I  want  the  cap 
tives." 

Now  they  came  into  our  hands,  nearly  a  hundred,  be 
sides  half-breeds,  many  of  whom  had  been  in  a  kind  of 
captivity.  The  white  women  had  dressed  up  as  well  as 
they  could  for  the  occasion,  but  many  of  them  only 
showed  their  white  relationship  by  the  face  and  hands 
and  hair  —  they  were  dressed  like  Indians.  It  was  a  time 
of  gladness  for  us.  White  men  stood  and  cried  for  joy. 
We  took  them  all  to  our  camp,  and  wrapped  them  up  as 
well  as  we  could.  Some  of  the  women  complained  be 
cause  we  did  not  furnish  women's  clothing ;  but  that  was 
unreasonable.  This  was  Camp  Release. 

Mr.  Amos  W.  Huggins  was  the  eldest  child  of  Alox- 
ander  G.  Huggins,  who  had  accompanied  Dr.  Williamson 
to  the  Sioux  country  in  1835.  Amos  was  born  in  Ohio, 
and  was  at  this  time  over  thirty  years  old.  He  was  mar 
ried,  and  two  children  blessed  their  home,  which,  for  some 
time  before  the  outbreak,  had  been  at  Lac-qui-parlo,  near 
where  the  town  of  that  name  now  stands.  It  was  then  an 
Indian  village  and  planting  place,  the  principal  man  being 
Wakanmane,  —  Spirit  Walker,  or  Walking  Spirit.  If  the 
people  of  the  village  had  been  at  home,  Mr.  Huggins  and 
his  family,  which  included  Miss  Julia  La  Framboise,  who 
was  also  a  teacher  in  the  employ  of  the  government, 
would  have  been  safe.  But  in  the  absence  of  Spirit 


194  MAEY    AND    I. 

"Walker's  people  three  Indian  men  came  —  two  of  them 
from  the  Lower  Sioux  Agency  —  and  killed  Mr.  Hug- 
gins,  and  took  from  the  house  such  things  as  they 
wanted. 

The  women  and  children  were  left  uninjured.  But 
after  they  had,  in  a  hasty  manner,  buried  the  father  and 
husband,  whither  should  they  go  for  protection?  At 
first  they  thought  to  find  safety  with  a  French  and  half- 
breed  family,  living  across  the  Minnesota,  where  our  old 
mission-house  had  been.  But  there,  for  some  reason,  they 
were  coldly  received.  Soon  the  brother  of  Julia  La 
Framboise  came  up  from  Little  Crow's  camp  and  took  her 
down.  Spirit  Walker  had  now  returned,  and  Mrs.  Hug- 
gins  took  refuge  in  his  friendly  teepee,  where  she  found  a 
welcome,  and  as  good  a  home  as  they  could  make  for  her 
and  her  fatherless  children. 

Spirit  Walker  would  probably  have  attempted  to  take 
them  to  the  white  soldiers'  camp  if  she  had  been  decided 
that  that  was  the  wisest  course.  But  Mrs.  Huggins  was 
timid,  and  preferred  rather  that  her  Dakota  protector 
should  decide  which  was  the  best  way.  And  so  it  hap 
pened  that  when  the  flight  took  place,  Spirit  Walker's 
folks  generally  were  drawn  into  the  swirl,  and  Mrs.  H. 
found  herself  on  the  journey  to  Manitoba. 

Immediately  after  we  had  reached  Camp  Release,  and 
had  learned  the  state  of  things,  I  presented  the  matter  to 
General  Sibley,  whereupon,  the  same  night,  he  authorized 
the  selection  of  four  Dakota  young  men  to  be  sent  after 
Mrs.  Huggins.  Robert  Hopkins,  Daniel  Renville,  Enos 
Good  Hail,  and  Makes  Himself  Red  were  sent  on  this 
mission,  which  they  fulfilled  as  expeditiously  as  possible. 
In  a  few  days  we  were  gladdened  by  the  sight  of  Mrs. 
Huggins  and  her  two  children,  and  a  child  of  a  German 


FORTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          195 

woman,  which  they  also  brought  in.     The  mother  was 
with  us,  and  was  overjoyed  to  find  her  little  girl. 

While  these  things  were  taking  place  on  the  Upper 
Minnesota,  Martha,  now  Mrs.  Morris,  still  under  the  inspi 
ration  of  the  events,  was  in  St.  Anthony,  writing  the  fol 
lowing  letter  to  the  Cincinnati  Christian  Herald:  — 

"In  fancied  security  we  had  dwelt  under  our  own  vine 
and  fig-tree,  knowing  naught  of  the  evil  which  was  to 
come  upon  us,  until  the  very  night  of  the  18th  of  August, 
1862.  Friendly  Indians,  who  knew  something  of  the  evil 
intent  of  chiefs  and  braves,  had  given  Miss  Jane  Will 
iamson  hints  concerning  it  during  that  day.  More  than 
that  they  dared  not  tell.  But  few  of  our  own  Indians 
had  known  much  more  respecting  the  coming  storm  than 
ourselves.  When  intelligence  came  of  the  bloody  work 
which  that  morning's  sun  had  looked  upon,  at  the  Lower 
Sioux  Agency,  thirty-five  miles  below,  our  good  friends 
came  to  us,  and,  in  an  agony  of  fear  for  our  lives  and  for 
theirs,  besought  us  to  flee.  We  would  certainly  be  killed, 
and  they  would  be  in  danger  on  account  of  our  presence. 
Some  believed,  but  more  doubted.  We  had  heard  Indian 
stories  before ;  by  morning  light  we  were  confident  this 
too  would  prove  nothing  but  a  drunken  frolic,  and  we 
would  only  lose  our  worldly  possessions  if  we  should  de 
part.  The  believing  ones  made  ready  a  little  clothing  and 
provision,  in  case  of  need.  The  principal  men  gathered 
in  council.  Could  they  protect  us?  They  would  try,  at 
least  until  the  morning.  We  sang  '  God  is  the  Refuge  of 
his  Saints,'  commended  ourselves  to  our  Father's,  safe 
keeping,  and  most  of  us  retired  to  rest.  An  hour  or  two 
passed  in  peaceful  slumber  by  some  —  in  nervous  anxiety 
by  others. 


196  MARY    AND    I. 

"One  o'clock  had  passed  :  a  heavy  knock  at  the  door. 
Our  friends  had  learned  more  of  the  extent  of  the  out 
break,  and  felt  that  their  protection  would  be  worse  tlir.n 
useless.  'If  you  regard  your  own  lives  or  ours,  you  must 
go.'  To  their  entreaties  we  yielded,  and  made  hasty 
preparations  to  depart.  In  a  quarter  of  an  hour  we  had 
left  our  homes  forever.  Our  company  consisted  of  my 
father's  family,  Mr.  Cunningham's,  and  Mr.  Pettijohn's, 
and  a  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Moore  from  New  Jersey ;  in  all 
twenty-one  persons.  Mr.  Cunningham  had  charge  of  the 
Hazelwood  boarding-school,  and  Mr.  Pettijohn,  a  former 
missionary  under  the  American  Board,  had  been  recently 
a  government  teacher,  twelve  miles  farther  up  the  river. 
He  had  been  moving  his  family  down  that  day,  on  their 
way  to  St.  Peter.  As  he  drove  my  father's  team  along, 
with  the  last  of  his  goods,  early  in  the  evening,  he  was 
met  by  two  Indians,  who  took  the  horses  from  him,  and 
set  him  on  an  inveterately  lazy  horse  belonging  to  another 
Indian.  Consequently  our  family  had  but  a  light  buggy 
and  one  horse  left,  which  was  to  aid  Mr.  Cunningham's 
two-horse  team  in  carrying  the  all  of  the  party.  Room 
was  found  in  the  conveyances  for  the  smaller  children 
and  all  the  women,  except  my  sister  Anna  and  myself. 
We  walked  with  the  men  and  boys.  Our  Indian  friends 
guided  us  through  the  woods,  the  thick  and  tangled  under 
brush,  the  tall,  rank  grass  drenched  with  dew,  to  the  river 
side,  where  we  were  quickly  and  carefully  conveyed  to  a 
wooded  island,  and  then  our  guides  left  us.  One  of  them, 
Enos  Good-\roice-Hail,  was  in  the  East  some  three  or  four 
years  since  —  a  brave,  handsome  man,  whose  eye  you 
could  not  but  trust.  Our  teams  could  not  cross  at  that 
place,  so  they  were  kept  for  us  until  the  morning.  All 
the  rest  of  that  weary  night  we  sat  on  the  damp  grass, 


FOKTY    YEAES    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  197 

cold  and  dreary,  wondering  what  the  day-dawn  would 
bring.  At  length  the  morning  came.  My  father  and  Mr. 
Cunningham  paddled  across  the  river  to  learn  the  state 
of  affairs.  We  found  we  had  neglected  to  bring  the 
most  of  the  provisions  prepared,  and  wondered  what  we 
should  do,  even  if  permitted  to  go  back  home  after  a  day 
or  so  spent  on  that  island.  While  still  talking,  a  woman 
hailed  us  from  the  opposite  bank,  who,  as  we  found  shortly, 
had  brought  several  loaves  of  bread  and  some  meat  on  her 
back,  all  the  way  from  our  houses.  We  received  it  as  a 
Godsend,  and*  soon  after,  my  father,  returning,  brought 
some  more  provision,  which  another  friend  had  secured 
for  us.  A  longer,  drearier  day  was  never  passed,  —  its 
every  hour  seemed  a  day.  The  rain  came  down  and 
drenched  us.  My  father  went  back  and  forth  from  the 
island  to  a  village  where  the  friendly  Indians  were  mostly 
gathered,  to  find  out  what  had  been  and  what  could  be 
done.  We  learned  that  Dr.  Williamson  had  sent  away 
the  most  of  his  family,  considering  it  his  duty  still  to 
remain ;  that  his  wife  and  sister  were  with  him  ;  but  the 
others,  with  a  number  of  cattle  for  future  need,  were 
secreted  in  the  woods,  a  mile  or  two  below  us. 

"  By  noon  our  houses  had  been  rifled,  and  gradually 
the  idea  fixed  itself  upon  us  that  we  must  leave  if  possi 
ble.  We  made  arrangements  to  join  Dr.  Williamson's 
family,  and  about  three  o'clock  took  up  our  line  of  march, 
each  carrying  some  bundles,  having  left  on  the  island  the 
only  trunk  belonging  to  the  party.  For  more  than  a 
mile  we  walked  along,  with  difficulty  keeping  our  footing 
on  the  side-hills,  which  we  chose  for  safety.  When  fairly 
out  on  the  bluffs,  we  came  up  with  one  of  the  two  teams, 
in  charge  of  Mr.  Hunter,  Dr.  Williamson's  son-in-law. 
The  baggage  being  transferred  from  our  shoulders  to  the 


198  MARY    AND    I. 

wagon,  the  feebler  ones  were  provided  with  seats,  while 
the  stronger  marched  on.  Soon  we  came  up  with  the 
remainder  of  the  party,  —  Dr.  Williamson's  family,  and 
half  a  dozen  persons  from  one  of  the  government  mills, 
who  had  cast  in  their  lot  with  them.  We  struck  out  on 
the  prairie  to  save  ourselves  if  there  was  any  chance. 
Our  march  was  shortly  rendered  unpleasant  by  a  fiercely 
driving  rain-storm,  from  the  soaking  effects  of  which  we 
did  not  recover  until  the  next  day,  though  it  had  the  good 
effect  of  obliterating  our  path.  Our  company  was  in 
creased  by  the  arrival  of  a  Mr.  Orr,  who  had  been  engaged 
in  trading  among  the  Indians,  near  the  place  Mr.  Petti 
John  had  resided,  and  who  had  been  shot  and  stabbed 
that  morning.  It  seemed  a  marvel  that  he  should  ever 
have  been  able  to  walk  that  far,  and  room  was  imme 
diately  made  for  him  in  a  wagon,  though  it  curtailed  that 
of  others.  Toward  night  we  were  overtaken  by  Mr.  Cun 
ningham,  bringing  one  of  his  horses  and  our  buggy,  which 
he  had  succeeded  in  getting  hold  of,  and  which  was  the 
only  vehicle  belonging  to  twenty-one  out  of  the  thirty- 
eight.  Night  came  on,  and  we  lay  down  on  the  hard 
earth,  with  bed  and  covering  both  scant  and  wet,  to  rest. 
In  the  morning  dawn,  after  our  usual  remembrance  of  Him 
who  ruleth  earth  and  sea,  we  went  on  our  way,  having 
had  but  little  food,  as  cooked  provisions  were  scarce,  and 
we  dared  not  kindle  a  fire,  for  fear  of  attracting  at 
tention. 

"  Our  day's  march  was  slow  but  steady  —  only  stopping 
when  necessary  to  rest  the  teams ;  and  although  we  con 
sidered  ourselves  in  danger,  we  found  it  quite  enjoyable, 
more  particularly  after  we  and  the  grass  got  dry,  so  that 
we  could  walk  with  ease.  We  had  counted  on  having  a 
fine  night's  rest  in  spite  of  our  scant  bed-clothing,  as  we 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  199 

were  all  dry,  but  we  were  disappointed.  A  slow,  steady 
rain  fall  through  all  the  long  night,  completely  saturating 
almost  every  article  of  bed-clothing,  and  every  person  in 
the  company.  In  that  comfortless  rain  we  drank  some 
milk,  ate  a  crust  or  tavo,  and  traveled  on  through  the 
long,  wet  swamp  grass,  and  the  swamps  themselves,  in 
wading  which  two  or  three  of  us  became  quite  accom 
plished.  By  noon  of  that  day,  which  was  Thursday,  we 
came  to  a  wood,  fifteen  or  sixteen  miles  east  from  a  settle 
ment  on  the  river,  which  was  about  twenty  miles  from 
home. 

"  Our  progress  had  been  very  slow  —  without  any  road, 
the  grass  so  wet  and  the  teams  so  heavily  loaded.  Still 
we  could  not  but  feel  that  the  God  who  had  led  us  during 
these  long  days,  would  neither  suffer  us  to  perish  in  this 
prairie  wilderness  nor  be  taken  by  savages.  At  this 
place  we  stopped  for  the  remaining  half  day,  killed  a 
beef,  and  luxuriated  on  meat  roasted  on  sticks  held  over 
the  fire.  We  also  baked  bread  in  quite  a  primitive  style. 
The  dough  being  first  mixed  in  a  bag  —  flour,  water,  and 
salt  the  only  ingredients  —  and  moulded  on  a  box,  it 
was  made  into  thin  cakes  about  the  size  of  a  hand- 
breadth,  placed  on  forked  sticks  over  the  fire,  to  bake  if 
possible,  and  to  be  smoked  most  certainly. 

"  Here  our  party  was  immortalized  by  a  young  artist 
—  a  Mr.  Ebell  —  who  had  gone  up  into  our  region  of 
country  a  few  days  previous  to  our  flight,  for  the  purpose 
of  taking  stereoscopic  views.  The  next  day  we  struck 
for  the  river,  coming  in  not  far  from  a  settlement  called 
Beaver,  about  six  miles  from  the  Lower  Agency.  Mr. 
Hunter  had  formerly  resided  at  the  place,  and  as  we  had 
not  at  the  time  the  remotest  idea  of  the  extent  of  the 
massacres,  he  drove  in  to  ascertain  the  whereabouts  of 


200  MARY    AND    I. 

the  settlers.  He  saw  no  signs  of  any  dead  bodies,  but 
two  or  three  Indians  employed  in  pillaging,  informed 
him  that  all  the  people  had  gone  to  Fort  Ridgely,  and 
advised  him  to  hasten  there,  or  some  other  Indians  would 
kill  him.  When  just  starting  on  after  our  noon  rest, 
some  one  spied  a  team  in  the  distance,  which  soon  proved 
to  be  Dr.  Williamson's,  containing  himself,  wife,  and 
sister.  Previously,  some  of  us  fancied  that  we  might 
have  been  unwise  in  fleeing,  but  when  we  saw  them,  we 
knew  we  had  not  started  too  soon.  They  left  on  Tues 
day  evening,  being  assisted  to  depart  by  two  of  the  Chris 
tian  Indians,  Simon  Anawangmane  and  Robert  Chaske, 
at  the  peril  of  their  own  lives.  They  said  they  would 
gladly  protect  them  longer,  but  it  was  impossible. 

"  After  holding  council,  we  pursued  our  journey  with 
the  intention  of  reaching  Fort  Ridgely  that  night ;  and 
when  within  nine  or  ten  miles,  Mr.  Hunter  drove  on  to 
ascertain  how  matters  stood  there.  We  felt  ourselves  in 
danger,  but  thought  if  we  were  only  inside  the  fort  walls, 
we  would  be  safe.  The  men  shouldered  their  arms,  the 
daylight  faded,  and  we  marched  on.  In  the  mysteriously 
dim  twilight,  every  taller  clump  of  grass,  every  blacker 
hillock,  grew  into  a  blood-thirsty  Indian,  just  ready  to 
leap  on  his  foe.  All  at  once,  on  the  brow  of  the  hill, 
appeared  two  horsemen  gazing  down  upon  us.  Indians  ! 
Every  pulse  stopped,  and  then  throbbed  on  more  fiercely. 
Were  those  men,  now  galloping  away,  sent  by  a  band  of 
\varriors  to  spy  out  the  land,  or  had  they  seen  us  by  acci 
dent  ?  We  could  not  tell.  The  twilight  faded,  and  the 
stars  shone  out  brightly  and  lovingly.  As  we  passed 
along  we  came  suddenly  on  a  dead  body,  some  days  cold 
and  stiff.  Death  drew  nearer,  and  as  we  marched  on,  we 
looked  up  to  the  clear  heavens  beyond  which  God  dwells, 


FOETY    YEAES    WITH   THE    SIOUX.  201 

and  prayed  him  to  keep  us.  When  within  a  mile  and  a 
half  of  the  fort,  we  met  Mr.  Hunter  returning,  who  re 
ported  as  follows :  He  left  the  buggy  in  his  wife's 
charge,  outside  the  barracks,  and  crawled  in  on  his  hands 
and  knees.  Lieut.  Sheehan,  commander  of  the  post,  in 
formed  him  they  had  been  fighting  hard  for  five  days ; 
that  the  Indians  had  withdrawn  at  seven  that  evening,  it 
being  then  between  nine  and  ten,  and  that,  if  not  rein 
forced,  they  could  hold  oat  but  little  longer.  Some  of  the 
buildings  had  been  burnt;  they  had  then  five  hundred 
women  and  children  inside,  and  if  we  could  go  on  —  go  ! 
We  went,  striking  away  out  on  the  prairie. 

"  Several  of  us  girls  had  been  mostly  walking  for 
the  ten  miles  back,  but  now,  to  give  the  least  trouble, 
we  climbed  on  the  wagons  wherever  we  might  find 
room  to  hold  on,  and  sat  patiently  with  the  rest.  Ah ! 
if  a  night  of  fear  and  dread  was  ever  spent,  that  was 
one.  Every  voice  was  hushed  except  to  give  necessary 
orders ;  every  eye  swept  the  hills  and  valleys  around  ; 
every  ear  was  intensely  strained  for  the  faintest  noise, 
expecting  momentarily  to  hear  the  unearthly  war-whoop, 
and  see  dusky  forms  with  gleaming  tomahawks  uplifted. 
How  past  actions  came  back  as  haunting  ghosts ;  how 
one's  hopes  of  life  faded  away,  away,  and  the  things  of 
earth  seemed  so  little  and  mean  compared  to  the  glorious 
heaven  beyond !  And  yet  life  was  so  sweet,  so  dear,  and 
though  it  be  a  glorious  heaven,  this  was  such  a  hard  way 
to  go  to  it,  by  the  tomahawk  and  scalping-knife  !  Oh, 
God  !  our  God !  must  it  be  ?  Then  came  sofnething  of 
resignation  to  death  itself,  but  such  a  sore  shrinking  from 
the  dishonor  which  is  worse  than  death;  and  we  could 
not  but  wonder  whether  it  would  be  a  greater  sin 
to  take  one's  life  than  thus  to  suffer.  So  the  night  wore 


202  MARY   AND   I. 

on  until  two  hours  past  midnight,  when,  compelled  by 
exhaustion,  we  stopped.  Some  slept  heavily,  forgetful 
of  the  danger  past  and  present,  while  others  sat  or  stood, 
inwardly  fiercely  nervous  and  excited,  but  outwardly 
calm  and  still.  Two  hours  passed ;  the  weary  sleepers 
were  awakened  by  the  weary  watchers,  and  as  quietly 
as  possible  the  march  was  renewed.  It  was  kept  up  until 
about  nine  in  the  day,  when  we  struck  the  Fort  Ilidgely 
and  Henderson  road. 

"  Having  traveled  thus  far  without  being  pursued,  we 
felt  ourselves  comparatively  safe.  I  am  sure  there  was 
not  one  who  did  not  in  heart  join  in  the  song  and  prayer 
of  thanksgiving  which  went  up  from  that  lone  prairie 
land,  however  much  we  may  have  forgotten  or  murmured 
since.  '  Jehovah  hath  triumphed ;  his  people  are  free, 
are/ree,'  seemed  to  ring  through  the  air.  As  we  pursued 
our  journey,  we  noticed  dense  columns  of  smoke  spring 
ing  up  along  the  river  with  about  the  same  rapidity  we 
traveled,  which  we  afterwards  learned  were  grain-stacks 
fired  by  Indians.  We  rested  for  the  night  near  a  house, 
some  fifteen  miles  from  Henderson,  from  which  the 
people  had  fled.  Here  we  felt  safe ;  but  subsequently 
learned  that  we  were  not  more  than  five  or  six  miles 
from  the  Norwegian  grove,  where  that  same  day  a  party 
of  warriors  had  done  their  bloody  work.  Surely,  God  led 
us  and  watched  over  us. 

"  The  next  day  being  the  Sabbath,  we  went  on  only  as 
far  as  we  deemed  necessary  for  perfect  safety.  Toward 
evening  my  father  held  divine  service,  which  was  almost 
the  only  outward  reminder  that  it  was  the  Lord's  Day. 
People  coming  and  going  —  bustle  here,  there,  and  every 
where —  so  different  from  our  last  quiet  Sabbath  at 
home,  the  last  time  we  and  our  dear  Indians  gathered 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  203 

together  around  the  table  of  our  Lord,  and  perhaps  the 
last  time  we  ever  shall,  until  we  meet  in  the  kingdom. 
The  next  morning  our  party  separated,  our  family,  with 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Moore,  Mrs.  Williamson  and  second 
daughter,  and  two  or  three  others,  continuing  on  the 
Henderson  road,  and  the  rest  striking  across  to  St.  Peter, 
where  Dr.  Williamson  has  found  abundant  work  in  the 
hospitals.  Near  there  his  family  expect  to  remain  during 
the  winter. 

"  We  arrived  that  afternoon  in  Henderson,  a  town  a 
hundred  miles  from  home,  and  we  had  been  a  week  on 
the  way.  *  Why,  I  thought  you  were  all  killed ! '  was  the 
first  greeting  of  every  one.  A  shoe  store  was  hunted  up 
before  we  proceeded  to  Shakopee,  having  first  bidden  a 
Godspeed  to  our  friends,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Moore.  By  this 
time  some  of  us  *  young  folks '  had  acquired  such  a 
liking  for  walking  that  we  consider  it  superior  to 
any  other  mode  of  locomotion  to  this  day;  and  if  it 
had  not  been  that  we  were  so  ragged  and  dirty  and 
foot-sore,  we  should  have  preferred  to  continue  our 
journey.  During  that  week  our  ideas  of  paradise  grew 
very  limited,  being  comprised  in  having  an  abundance 
of  water,  some  clean  clothes,  plenty  to  eat,  and  a  nice 
bed  to  sleep  in. 

"  Since  our  entering  Shakopee,  we  have  visited  among 
kind  friends,  until  two  weeks  since,  when  we  endeavored 
to  set  up  house-keeping  in  this  town  of  St.  Anthony. 
Notwithstanding  the  kindness  of  friends  and  strangers, 
we,  in  common  with  others,  find  it  difficult  to  do  some 
thing  with  nothing,  especially  as  my  father  is  with  the 
expedition  against  the  Indians.  It  cannot  but  be  that 
we  should  look  back  lovingly  to  the  homes  we  have  left, 
which  are  all,  even  'our  holy  and  beautiful  house,' 


204  MAKY    AND   I. 

wherein  we  have  worshiped,  destroyed  by  fire ;  but  I 
trust  that  we  all  endeavor  to  '  take  joyfully  the  spoiling  of 
our  goods.'  '  We  must  through  much  tribulation  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  God.'  Among  our  many  causes  for 
thankfulness,  one  is  suggested  by  the  verse  '  Pray  ye 
that  your  flight  be  not  in  the  winter.'  Another  cause  is 
that  there  was  so  little  loss  of  life  among  those  connected 
with  the  mission.  We  mourn  for  our  dear  friend,  Mr. 
Amos  Huggins,  son  of  a  former  missionary,  and  govern 
ment  teacher  at  Lac-qui-parle.  His  young  wife  and  two 
small  children  were,  at  last  accounts,  in  the  hands  of  the 
Indians,  as  also  Miss  Julia  La  Framboise,  an  assistant 
teacher  who  resided  in  their  family.  Because  of  the 
influential  relatives  Miss  La  Framboise  has  among  the 
Dakotas,  we  hope  for  her,  while  for  Mrs.  Huggins  we 
can  on\y  pray. 

"  It  was  not  my  intention,  when  I  began  this  article, 
to  enter  at  all  into  the  causes  of  this  outbreak ;  but  what 
I  have  written  will  excite  your  indignation  against  all 
Dakotas,  and  I  cannot  bear  that  it  should  be  so.  It  must 
be  remembered  that  the  church  members,  as  a  whole, 
have  had  no  hand  in  it.  One,  John  Otherday,  guided  a 
party  of  sixty-two  across  the  prairies.  Two  others, 
Lorenzo  Lawrence  and  Simon  Anawangmane,  have 
recently  brought  into  Fort  Ridgely  three  captive  women 
and  eleven  children ;  and  we  doubt  not  that  others  will 
also  *  let  their  light  shine '  —  at  the  peril  of  their  lives, 
remember. 

"  The  Indians  have  not  been  without  excuse  for  their 
evil  deeds.  Our  own  people  have  given  them  intoxi 
cating  drinks,  taught  them  to  swear,  violated  the  rights 
of  womanhood  among  them,  robbed  them  of  their  dues, 
and  then  insulted  them !  What  more  would  be  neces- 


FORTY    YEAES   WITH    THE    SIOUX.  205 

sary  to  cause  one  nation  to  rise  against  another  ?  What 
more?  I  ask.  And  yet  there  are  many  who  curse  this 
people,  and  cry  '  Exterminate  the  fiends.'  Dare  we,  as 
a  nation,  thus  bring  a  curse  upon  ourselves  and  on  future 
generations  ? 

"MAKTHA  T.  RIGGS." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

1862-1863.  —  Military  Commission.  — Excited  Community.  — Da- 
kotas  Condemned.—  Moving  Camp. —  The  Campaign  Closed. — 
Findings  Sent  to  the  President. —  Reaching  My  Home  in  St. 
Anthony. —  Distributing  Alms  on  the  Frontier. —  Recalled  to 
Mankato. — The  Executions. — Thirty-eight  Hanged. — Difficulty 
of  Avoiding  Mistakes. —  Round  Wind.— Confessions. —  The 
Next  Sabbath's  Service.— Dr.  Williamson's  Work.— Learning 
to  Read. —  The  Spiritual  Awakening. —  The  Way  It  Came. — 
Mr.  Pond  Invited  Up. —  Baptisms  in  the  Prison. —  The  Lord's 
Supper.— The  Camp  at  Snelling.— A  Like  Work  of  Grace.— 
John  P.  Williamson. —  Scenes  in  the  Garret. —  One  Hundred 
Adults  Baptized. —  Marvelous  in  Our  Eyes. 

No  sooner  had  the  white  captives  been  brought  over 
to  our  camp  than,  from  various  sources,  we  began  to  hear 
of  Indian  men  who  had  maltreated  these  white  women, 
or  in  some  way  had  been  engaged  in  the  massacres  of 
the  border.  On  the  morrow,  General  Sibley  requested 
me  to  act  as  the  medium  of  communication  between 
these  women  and  himself,  inviting  them  to  make  known 
any  acts  of  cruelty  or  wrong  which  they  had  suffered  at 
the  hands  of  Dakota  men  during  their  captivity.  The 
result  of  this  inquiry  was  the  apprehension  of  several 
men  who  were  still  in  the  Sioux  camp,  and  the  organi 
zation  of  a  military  commission,  composed  of  officers,  to 
try  such  cases.  Naturally,  we  supposed  that  men  who 
knew  themselves  guilty  would  have  fled  to  Manitoba  with 
Little  Crow.  The  greater  number  of  such  men  had  un 
doubtedly  gone.  But  some  were  found  remaining  who 

206 


FORTY  YEAES  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          207 

had  participated  in  individual  murders,  some  who  had 
abused  white  women,  and  more  who  had  been  mixed 
up  in  the  various  raids  made  upon  the  white  settle 
ments. 

When  the  wheels  of  this  military  commission  were 
once  put  in  motion,  they  rolled  on  as  the  victims  were 
multiplied.  Besides  those  who  remained  in  the  camp 
when  the  flight  took  place,  and  supposed  that  clemency 
would  be  meted  out  to  them,  several  small  parties  of 
Sioux  who  had  fled  were  pursued  by  our  troops  and 
"  gobbled  up,"  as  the  camp  phrase  was.  In  all  such 
cases  the  grown  men  were  placed  in  confinement  to  await 
the  ordeal  of  a  trial.  The  revelations  of  the  white 
women  caused  great  indignation  among  our  soldiers,  to 
which  must  be  added  the  outside  pressure  coming  to  our 
camp  in  letters  from  all  parts  of  Minnesota,  —  a  wail  and 
a  howl, — in  many  cases  demanding  the  execution  of 
every  Indian  coming  into  our  hands.  The  result  of  these 
combined  influences  was  that  in  a  few  weeks,  instead  of 
taking  individuals  for  trial,  against  whom  some  specific 
charge  could  be  brought,  the  plan  was  adopted  to  subject 
all  the  grown  men,  with  a  few  exceptions,  to  an  investi 
gation  of  the  commission,  trusting  that  the  innocent 
could  make  their  innocency  appear.  This  was  a  thing 
not  possible  in  the  case  of  the  majority  —  especially  as 
conviction  was  based  upon  an  admission  of  being  present 
at  the  battles  of  Fort  Ridgely,  New  Ulm,  Hutchinson, 
and  Birch  Coolie.  Almost  all  the  Dakota  men  had  been 
at  one  or  more  of  those  places,  and  had  carried  their 
guns  and  used  them.  So  that,  of  nearly  four  hundred 
cases  which  came  before  the  commission,  only  about 
fifty  were  cleared,  twenty  were  sentenced  to  imprison 
ment,  and  more  than  three  hundred  were  condemned  to 


208  MARY    AND    I. 

be  hanged.  The  greater  part  of  these  were  condemned  on 
general  principles,  without  any  specific  charges  proved, 
such  as  under  less  exciting  and  excited  conditions  of 
society  would  have  been  demanded.  They  were  Sioux 
Indians,  and  belonged  to  the  bands  that  had  engaged  in 
the  rebellion.  Among  those  who  were  condemned  to  be 
hanged  was  a  negro  called  Gusso.  By  the  testimony  of 
Indians,  through  fear  or  a  liking  to  the  business,  he  had 
rather  signalized  himself  by  the  killing  of  white  people. 
But  he  talked  French,  and  could  give  what  appeared 
to  be  accurate  and  reliable  information  in  regard  to  a 
great  many  of  the  Dakotas  who  were  brought  before  the 
commission.  In  consequence  of  this  service,  the  com 
mission  recommended  that  his  capital  punishment  be 
changed  to  imprisonment. 

More  than  a  month  passed  before  the  court  had  fin 
ished  its  work.  In  the  meantime,  we  had  changed  our 
camp  to  the  Lower  Sioux  Agency.  From  this  point  the 
women  and  children  of  the  imprisoned  men,  together 
with  such  men  as  had  escaped  suspicion,  were  sent  down 
under  a  military  guard  to  Fort  Snelling,  where  they, 
being  about  fifteen  hundred  souls,  were  kept  through 
the  winter. 

At  the  close  of  their  work,  the  military  commission 
turned  over  their  findings  and  condemnations  to  General 
Sibley  for  his  approval.  During  the  few  days  in  which 
these  passed  under  review,  the  principles  on  which  the 
condemnations  were  based  were  often  under  discussion. 
Many  of  them  had  no  good  foundation.  And  they  were 
only  justified  by  the  considerations  that  they  would  be 
reviewed  by  a  more  disinterested  authority,  and  that  the 
condemnations  were  demanded  by  the  people  of  Min 
nesota.  General  Sibley  pardoned  one  man  because  he 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  209 

was  a  near  relative  of  John  Otherday,  who  had  done  so 
much  for  white  people. 

The  campaign  was  now  closed.  The  work  of  the 
military  commission  was  completed.  It  remained  now 
to  go  into  winter-quarters,  to  guard  the  prisoners,  and  to 
await  such  orders  as  should  come  from  the  President. 
It  was  November  when  the  camp  was  removed  from  the 
Lower  Sioux  Agency  to  Mankato.  On  our  way  thither 
we  must  needs  pass  by  or  through  New  Ulm.  As  we 
approached  that  place,  with  400  manacled  Sioux,  carried 
in  wagons,  and  guarded  by  lines  of  infantry  and  cavalry, 
the  people  came  out  and  made  an  insane  attack  upon  the 
prisoners.  General  Sibley  thought  it  best  to  yield  so  far 
to  the  wishes  of  the  Germans  as  to  pass  outside  of  the 
town. 

On  our  reaching  Mankato,  I  was  released  from  further 
^service  in  the  camp,  and  sent  down  to  carry  the  con 
demnations  to  the  military  headquarters  at  St.  Paul. 
At  midnight  the  stage  reached  Minneapolis.  My  own 
family  were  across  the  river,  living  in  a  hired  house  in 
St.  Anthony.  I  had  received  very  particular  informa 
tion  as  to  how  I  should  find  the  place,  and  went  directly 
there ;  but,  as  no  answer  was  made  to  my  knocking,  I 
went  back  to  the  church  to  see  if  I  could  have  made 
a  mistake.  After  trying  in  other  directions,  I  aroused 
Rev.  Mr.  Sercombe,  who  insisted  on  going  with  me  to 
tlie  place  where  I  had  stood  knocking. 

Mary  and  the  children  were  comfortably  housed. 
Mrs.  Sophronia  McKee,  the  wife  of  the  Presbyterian 
clergyman,  had  been  a  fellow-townswoman  and  special 
friend  of  Mary  in  their  younger  years.  This  was  a 
guarantee  of  help  in  this  time  of  need.  They  found 
friends.  Donations  of  little  things  to  help  them  com- 


210  /  MARY    AND    I. 

mence  housekeeping  came  in  from  interested  hearts. 
Friends  farther  away  sent  boxes  of  clothing  and  in  some 
cases  money ;  so  that  after  more  than  two  months  I 
found  them  in  comfortable  circumstances. 

All  along  the  line  of  the  frontier,  where  the  Sioux 
raids  had  been  made,  were  many  families  who  had 
returned  to  desolated  homes.  Many  persons  all  over  the 
country  took  a  deep  interest  in  this  class  of  sufferers, 
and  money  contributions  were  made  for  their  relief. 
The  Friends  in  Indiana  and  elsewhere  had  placed  their 
contributions  in  the  hands  of  Friend  W.  W.  Wales  of 
St.  Anthony.  Here  was  a  service  in  which  I  could 
engage,  and  find  relief  from  the  strain  of  the  campaign 
and  the  condemnations.  Accordingly,  I  undertook  to 
hunt  up  needy  families  in  the  neighborhood  of  Glencoe 
and  Hutchinson,  and  to  dispense  a  few  hundred  dollars 
of  this  benevolent  fund.  One  day,  as  I  was  traveling  in 
my  one-horse  buggy  over  the  snow  between  Glencoe  and 
Hutchinson,  I  was  overtaken  by  a  messenger  from  Gen 
eral  Sibley,  asking  me  to  report  to  Colonel  Miller,  who 
was  in  command  of  the  prison  at  Mankato,  to  be  present 
and  give  assistance  at  the  time  of  the  executions. 

As  a  matter  of  duty,  I  obeyed.  From  my  youth  up,  it 
had  been  a  determination  of  mine  never  to  go  to  see  a 
fellow-being  hanged.  No  curiosity  could  have  taken  me. 
Rather  would  I  have  gone  the  other  way.  But,  if  I 
could  be  of  service  to  Indian  or  white  man,  in  prevent 
ing  mistakes  and  furthering  the  ends  of  justice  and 
righteousness,  my  own  feelings  should  be  held  in  abey 
ance  and  made  to  work  in  the  line  of  duty. 

On  receiving  the  papers  transmitted  from  the  military 
commission,  President  Lincoln  had  placed  them  in  the 
hands  of  impartial  men,  with  instructions  to  report  the 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  211 

cases  which,  according  to  the  testimony,  were  convicted 
of  participation  in  individual  murders  or  in  violating 
white  women.  Acting  under  these  instructions,  thirty- 
nine  cases  were  reported,  and  these  were  ordered  by  the 
President  to  be  executed.  But  among  so  many  it  was  a 
matter  of  much  difficulty  to  identify  all  the  cases. 
Among  the  condemned  there  were  several  persons  of 
the  same  name  —  three  or  four  Chaskays,  two  or  three 
Washechoons.  In  the  findings  of  the  commission  they 
were  all  numbered,  and  the  order  for  the  executions  was 
given  in  accordance  with  these  numbers.  But  no  one 
could  remember  which  number  attached  to  which  person. 
The  only  certain  way  of  avoiding  mistakes  was  by 
examining  closely  the  individual  charges.  To  Joseph 
R.  Brown,  who  better  than  any  other  man  knew  all 
these  condemned  men,  —  and  he  did  not  recognize  all 
perfectly,  —  was  mainly  committed  the  work  of  selecting 
those  who  were  named  to  be  executed.  Extraordinary 
care  was  meant  to  be  used;  but  after  it  was  all  over, 
when  we  came  to  compare  their  own  stories  and  con 
fessions,  made  a  day  or  two  before  their  death,  with  the 
papers  of  condemnation,  the  conviction  was  forced  upon 
us  that  two  mistakes  had  occurred. 

The  separation  was  effected  on  Monday  morning,  the 
men  to  be  executed  being  taken  from  the  log  jail,  in 
which  all  were  confined,  to  an  adjoining  stone  building, 
where  they  were  additionally  secured  by  being  chained 
to  the  floor.  Colonel  Miller  then  informed  them  of  the 
order  of  the  President  that  they  should  be  hanged  on  the 
Thursday  following,  and  they  were  advised  to  prepare 
themselves  for  that  event.  They  were  at  liberty  to  select 
such  spiritual  counsel  as  they  desired.  Dr.  Williamson 
was  there  as  a  Protestant  minister,  and  Father  Kavaux 


212  MARY    AND    I. 

of  St.  Paul  as  a  Catholic  priest.  They  were  advised 
not  to  select  me,  as  I  was  acting  interpreter  for  the 
government.  More  than  three-fourths  of  the  whole 
number  selected  Mr.  Ravaux.  This  was  accounted  for 
by  the  fact  that  one  of  the  Campbells,  a  half-breed  and 
a  Roman  Catholic,  was  of  the  number.  Some  days 
before  this,  Dr.  Williamson  had  baptized  Round  Wind, 
who  was  reprieved  by  an  order  from  the  President, 
which  came  only  a  day  or  so  before  the  executions, 
reducing  the  number  to  thirty-eight. 

Of  this  man  Round  Wind  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that 
he  was  condemned  on  the  testimony  of  a  German  boy, 
who  affirmed  that  he  was  the  man  who  killed  his  mother. 
But  it  was  afterward  shown,  by  abundance  of  testimony, 
that  Round  Wind  was  not  there. 

As  the  time  of  their  death  approached,  they  manifested 
a  desire,  each  one,  to  say  some  things  to  their  Dakota 
friends,  and  also  to  the  white  people.  I  acceded  to 
their  request,  and  spent  a  whole  day  with  them,  writing 
down  such  tilings  as  they  wished  to  say.  Many  of  them, 
the  most  of  them,  took  occasion  to  affirm  their  innocence 
of  the  charges  laid  against  them  of  killing  individuals. 
But  they  admitted,  and  said  of  their  own  accord,  that  so 
many  white  people  had  been  killed  by  the  Dakotas  that 
public  and  general  justice  required  the  death  of  some  in 
return.  This  admission  was  in  the  line  of  their  educa 
tion.  Perhaps  it  is  not  too  much  to  call  it  an  instinct  of 
humanity. 

The  executions  took  place.  Arrangements  were  made 
by  which  thirty-eight  Dakota  men  were  suspended  in 
mid-air  by  the  cutting  of  one  rope.  The  other  prisoners, 
through  crevices  in  the  walls  of  their  log  prison-house,  saw 
them  hanged.  And  they  were  deeply  affected  by  it,  albeit 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  213 

they  did  not  show  their  feelings  as  white  men  would  have 
done  under  like  circumstances. 

At  the  close  of  the  week,  Dr.  Williamson,  finding  him 
self  quite  worn  out  with  abundant  labors,  returned  to  St. 
Peter  to  rest  in  his  family.  The  Sabbath  morning  came. 
The  night  before,  a  fresh  snow  had  fallen  nearly  a  foot 
deep.  Colonel  Miller  thought  it  was  only  humane  to  let 
the  prisoners  go  out  into  the  yard  on  that  day,  to  breathe 
the  fresh  air.  And  so  it  was  we  gathered  in  the  middle 
of  that  enclosure,  and  all  that  company  of  chained  men 
stood  while  we  snug  hymns  and  prayed  and  talked  of 
God's  plan  of  saving  men  from  death.  To  say  that  they 
listened  with  attention  and  interest  would  not  convey  the 
whole  truth.  Evidently,  their  fears  were  thoroughly 
aroused,  and  they  were  eager  to  find  out  some  way  by 
which  the  death  they  apprehended  could  be  averted. 
This  was  their  attitude.  It  was  a  good  time  to  talk  to 
them  of  sin  —  to  tell  them  of  their  sins.  It  was  a  good 
time  to  unfold  to  them  God's  plan  of  saving  from  sin  — 
to  tell  them  God's  own  son,  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  died 
to  save  them  from  their  sins,  if  they  would  only  believe. 
A  marvelous  work  of  grace  was  already  commencing  in 
the  prison. 

The  next  day  after  the  Sabbath  I  left  Mankato,  and 
returned  to  my  family  in  St.  Anthony,  where  I  spent 
the  remaining  part  of  the  winter,  partly  in  preparing 
school-books,  for  which  there  arose  a  sudden  demand, 
and  all  we  had  on  hands  were  destroyed  in  the  outbreak; 
and  partly  in  helping  on  the  spiritual  and  educational 
work  in  the  camp  at  Fort  Snelling.  But  Dr.  William 
son,  living  as  he  did  in  St.  Peter,  gave  his  time  during 
the  winter  to  teaching  and  preaching  to  the  men  in  the 
prison.  Immediately  on  their  reaching  Mankato,  he  and 


214  MARY    AND    I. 

liis  sister  came  up  to  visit  them,  and  were  glad  to  find 
them  ready  to  listen. 

The  prisoners  asked  for  books.  Only  two  copies  of  the 
New  Testament  and  two  or  three  copies  of  the  Dakota 
hymn-book  were  found  in  prison.  Some  of  each  were 
obtained  elsewhere,  and  afterward  furnished  them,  but 
not  nearly  as  many  as  they  needed.  Some  slates  and 
pencils  and  writing-paper  were  provided  for  them.  And 
still  later  in  the  winter  some  Dakota  books  were  given 
them.  From  this  time  on  the  prison  became  a  school, 
and  continued  to  be  such  all  through  their  imprisonment. 
They  were  all  exceedingly  anxious  to  learn.  And  the 
more  their  minds  were  turned  toward  God  and  his  Word, 
the  more  interested  they  became  in  learning  to  read  and 
write.  In  their  minds,  books  and  the  religion  we  preached 
went  together. 

Soon  after  this  first  visit  of  Dr.  Williamson,  they  began 
to  sing  and  pray  publicly,  every  morning  and  evening; 
which  they  continued  to  do  all  the  while  they  were  in 
prison.  This  they  commenced  of  their  own  accord.  At 
first  the  prayers  were  made  only  by  those  who  had  been 
church  members,  and  who  wrere  accustomed  to  pray ;  but 
others  soon  came  forward  and  did  the  same. 

Before  the  executions,  Robert  Hopkins,  who  was,  at 
that  time,  the  leader  in  all  that  pertained  to  worship, 
handed  to  Dr.  Williamson  the  names  of  thirty  men  who 
had  then  led  in  public  prayer.  And  not  very  long  after, 
sixty  more  names  were  added  to  the  list  of  praying  ones. 
This  was  regarded  by  themselves  very  much  in  the  light 
of  making  a  profession  of  religion. 

In  a  few  weeks  a  deep  and  abiding  concern  for  them 
selves  was  manifest.  Here  were  hundreds  of  men  who 
had  all  their  life  refused  to  listen  to  the  Gospel.  They 


FORTY   YEARS   WITH    THE    SIOUX. 

now  wanted  to  hear  it.  There  was  a  like  number  of  men 
who  had  refused  to  learn  to  read.  Now  almost  all  were 
eager  to  learn.  And  along  with  this  wonderful  awaken 
ing  on  the  subject  of  education  sprang  up  the  more 
marvelous  one  of  their  seeking  after  God  —  some  god. 
Their  own  gods  had  failed  them  signally,  as  was  manifest 
by  their  present  condition.  Their  conjurers,  their  medi 
cine-men,  their  makers  of  wakan,  were  nonplussed.  Even 
the  women  taunted  them  by  saying,  "  You  boasted  great 
power  as  wakan  men ;  where  is  it  now  ?  "  These  barriers, 
which  had  been  impregnable  and  impenetrable  in  the 
past,  were  suddenly  broken  down.  Their  ancestral  relig 
ion  had  departed.  They  were  unwilling  now,  in  their 
distresses,  to  be  without  God  —  without  hope,  without 
faith  in  something  or  some  one.  Their  hearts  were  ach 
ing  after  some  spiritual  revelation. 

Then,  if  human  judgment  resulted  in  what  they  had 
seen  and  realized,  what  would  be  the  results  of  God's 
judgment  ?  If  sin  against  white  men  brought  such  death, 
what  death  might  come  to  them  by  reason  of  sin,  from 
the  Great  Wakan  ?  There  was  such  a  thing  as  sin,  and 
there  was  such  a  person  as  Christ,  God's  Son,  who  is  a 
Saviour  from  sin.  These  impressions  were  made  by  the 
preaching  of  the  Word.  These  impressions  became  con 
victions.  The  work  of  God's  Spirit  had  now  commenced 
among  them,  and  it  was  continued  all  winter,  "  deep  and 
powerful,  but  very  quiet,"  as  one  wrote. 

Some  of  these  men,  in  their  younger  days,  had  heard 
the  Messrs.  Pond  talk  of  the  white  man's  religion.  They 
were  desirous  now,  in  their  trouble,  to  hear  from  their 
old  friends,  whose  counsel  they  had  so  long  rejected. 
To  this  request,  Mr.  G.  H.  Pond  responded,  and  spent 
some  days  in  the  prison,  assisting  Dr.  Williamson.  Rev. 


216  MARY    AND    I. 

Mr.  Hicks,  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church  in  Mankato, 
was  also  taken  into  their  counsels  and  gave  them  aid. 
For  several  weeks  previous,  many  men  had  been  wishing 
to  be  baptized,  and  thus  recognized  as  believers  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  This  number  increased  from  day  to 
day,  until  about  three  hundred  —  just  how  many  could 
not  afterward  be  ascertained  —  stood  up  and  were  bap 
tized  into  the  name  of  the  Father,  of  the  Son,  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  The  circumstances  were  peculiar,  the  whole 
movement  was  marvelous,  it  was  like  a  "  nation  born  in 
a  day."  The  brethren  desired  to  be  divinely  guided  ; 
and,  after  many  years  of  testing  have  elapsed,  we  all  say 
that  was  a  genuine  work  of  God's  Holy  Spirit. 

Several  weeks  after  the  events  above  described,  in  the 
month  of  March,  I  went  up  to  Mankato  and  spent  two 
Sabbaths  with  the  men  in  prison  ;  and  while  there  la 
bored  to  establish  them  in  their  new  faith,  and  at  the 
close  of  rny  visit,  by  the  request  of  Dr.  Williamson,  I 
administered  to  these  new  converts  the  Lord's  Supper. 
Robert  Hopkins  and  Peter  Big  Fire  had  both  been 
prominent  members  and  elders  in  Dr.  Williamson's 
church  at  Pay-zhe-hoo-ta-ze.  Naturally  they,  with  others 
who  were  soon  brought  to  the  front,  became  the  leaders 
and  exponents  of  Christian  faith  among  the  prisoners. 

This  first  communion  in  the  prison  made  a  deep  im 
pression  upon  myself.  It  began  to  throw  light  upon  the 
perplexing  questions  that  had  started  in  my  own  mind, 
as  to  the  moral  meaning  of  the  outbreak.  God's  thought 
of  it  was  not  my  thought.  As  the  heavens  were  higher 
than  the  earth,  so  his  thoughts  were  higher  than  mine.  I 
accepted  the  present  interpretation  of  the  events,  and 
thanked  God  and  took  courage.  The  Indians  had  not 
meant  it  so.  In  their  thought  and  determination,  the 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  217 

outbreak  was  the  culmination  of  their  hatred  of  Chris 
tianity.  But  God,  who  sits  on  the  throne,  had  made  it- 
result  in  their  submission  to  him.  This  was  marvelous 
in  our  eyes. 

While  these  events  were  transpiring  in  the  prison  at 
Mankato,  a  very  similar  work  went  on  in  the  camp  at 
Fort  Snelling.  The  conditions  in  both  places  were  a 
good  deal  alike.  In  the  camp  as  well  as  in  the  prison 
they  were  in  trouble  and  perplexity.  In  their  distresses 
they  were  disposed  to  call  upon  the  Lord.  Many  of  our. 
church  members,  both  men  and  women,  were  in  the 
camp.  There  were  Paul,  and  Simon,  and  Antoine  Ren- 
mile,  the  elders  of  the  Hazelwood  church,  and  Joseph 
Napayshne  of  the  Lower  Sioux  Agency.  But  the  outlook 
was  as  dark  to  them  as  it  was  to  us.  Mr.  J.  P.  William 
son  thus  describes  the  state  of  the  camp  in  the  closing 
days  of  1862:- 

"The  suspense  was  terrible.  The  ignorant  women  had 
not  seen  much  of  the  world,  and  didn't  know  anything 
about  law.  They,  however,  knew  that  their  husbands 
and  sons  had  been  murdering  the  whites,  and  were  now 
in  prison  therefor,  and  they  themselves  dependent  for  life 
on  the  mercy  of  the  whites.  The  ever-present  query  was, 
What  will  become  of  us,  and  especially  of  the  men  ? 
With  inquisitive  eyes  they  were  always  watching  the 
soldiers  and  other  whites  who  visited  them,  for  an  an 
swer,  but  the  curses  and  threats  they  received  were  little 
understood,  except  that  they  meant  no  good.  With 
what  imploring  looks  have  we  been  besought  to  tell 
them  their  fate.  Strange  reports  were  constantly  being 
whispered  around  the  camp.  Now,  the  men  were  all  to 
be  executed,  of  whom  the  thirty-eight  hanged  at  Mankato 
was  the  first  installment,  and  the  women  and  children 


218  MARY    AND    I. 

scattered  and  made  slaves;  now,  they  were  all  to  be 
taken  to  a  rocky  barren  island  somewhere,  and  left  with 
nothing  but  fish  for  a  support ;  and,  again,  they  were  to 
be  taken  away  down  South,  where  it  was  so  hot  they 
would  all  die  of  fever  and  ague." 

Rev.  John  P.  Williamson,  having  been  providentially 
absent  in  Ohio  at  the  time  of  the  outbreak,  returned  to 
accompany  this  camp  of  despised  and  hated  Dakotas  in 
their  journey  from  the  Lower  Sioux  Agency  to  Fort 
Snelling.  But  it  did  not  immediately  appear  what  he 
could  do  for  them.  He  and  I  were  in  much  the  same 
condition,  looking  around  for  other  work.  He  says  of 
himself  that  at  this  time  he  "  made  some  effort  to  secure 
a  place  as  stated  supply  in  the  neighborhood  of  St.  Paul 
or  Minneapolis,  but  was  unsuccessful;  and  then  he  felt 
such  drawing  toward  the  Indian  carnp  that  he  took  the 
nearest  available  quarters,  and  spent  the  winter  minister 
ing  temporally  and  spiritually  to  this  afflicted  people." 

When,  in  the  spring  following,  they  were  taken  down 
the  Mississippi  and  up  the  Missouri  to  Crow  Creek,  he 
did  not  forsake  them,  but  stayed  by  them  in  evil  and  in 
good  report,  with  the  devotion  of  a  lover.  Everywhere, 
and  at  all  times  his  thoroughly  honest,  devoted,  and  un 
selfish  course  commanded  the  respect  and  confidence  of 
white  men  in  and  out  of  the  army.  And  his  self-aban 
donment  to  the  temporal  and  spiritual  good  of  the  fami 
lies  of  the  men  in  prison  begot  in  them  such  admiration 
and  confidence  that  scarcely  a  prayer  was  made  by  them, 
in  all  those  four  years  of  their  imprisonment,  without  the 
petition  that  God  would  remember  and  bless  "the  one 
who  is  called  John." 

The  camp  at  Snelling  was  on  the  low  ground  near  the 
river,  where  the  steamboats  were  accustomed  to  land. 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX,  219 

A  high  board  fence  was  made  around  two  or  three  acres 
of  ground,  inside  of  which  the  Dakotas  pitched  their 
cloth  tents.  In  them  they  cooked  and  ate  and  slept,  and 
read  the  Bible  and  sang  and  prayed,  and  wrote  letters  to 
their  friends  in  prison. 

By  gradual  steps,  but  with  overwhelming  power,  came 
the  heavenly  visitation.  At  first  Mr.  Williamson  used  to 
meet  the  former  members  in  one  of  their  own  teepees. 
Presently  there  was  an  evident  softening  of  hearts.  Now 
news  came  of  the  awakening  among  the  prisoners  at 
Mankato.  The  teepee  would  not  contain  half  the  listen 
ers,  so  for  some  time  in  the  middle  of  winter  the  meet 
ings  were  held  in  the  campus,  then  in  a  great  dark  gar 
ret  over  a  warehouse,  without  other  fire  than  spiritual. 
In  that  low  garret,  when  hundreds  were  crouched  down 
among  the  rafters,  only  the  glistening  eyes  of  some  of 
them  visible  in  the  dark,  we  remember  how  the  silence 
was  sometimes  such  that  the  fall  of  a  pin  might  be  heard. 
Many  were  convicted ;  confessions  and  professions  were 
made;  idels  treasured  for  many  generations  with  the 
highest  reverence  were  thrown  away  by  the  score. 
They  had  faith  no  longer  in  their  idols.  They  laid  hold 
on  Christ  as  their  only  hope.  On  this  ground  they  were 
baptized,  over  a  hundred  adults,  with  their  children. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  be  present  frequently,  and  to 
see  how  the  good  hand  of  the  Lord  was  upon  them  in 
giving  them  spiritual  blessings  in  their  distresses.  There 
was  ever  a  large  and  active  sympathy  between  the  camp 
and  the  prison,  and  frequent  letters  passed  between  them. 
When,  at  one  time,  I  brought  down  several  hundred  let 
ters  from  the  prisoners,  and  told  them  of  the  wonderful 
work  there  in  progress,  it  produced  a  powerful  effect. 
In  both  camp  and  prison,  both  intellectually  and  spiritu 
ally,  it  was  a  winter  of  great  advancement. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

1863-1866.  —The  Dakota  Prisoners  Taken  to  Davenport.  —  Camp 
McClellan.  —  Their  Treatment.  —  Great  Mortality.  —  Educa 
tion  in  Prison.  —  Worship  —  Church  Matters.  —  The  Camp  at 
Snelling  Removed  to  Crow  Creek.  —  John  P.  Williamson's 
Story.  —  Many  Die.  —  Scouts'  Camp.  —  Visits  to  Them.  — 
Family  Threads.  —  Revising  the  New  Testament.  —  Educa 
ting  Our  Children.  — Removal  to  Beloit.  — Family  Matters  — 
Little  Six  and  Medicine  Bottle. — With  the  Prisoners  at  Daven 
port. 

THE  course  of  the  Mississippi  forming  the  eastern  line 
of  the  State  of  Iowa  is  from  north  to  south ;  but  its  trend, 
as  it  passes  the  city  of  Davenport,  is  to  the  west ;  so  that 
what  is  called  "East  Davenport"  is  a  mile  above  the  city. 
At  this  point,  in  the  beginning  of  the  civil  war,  barracks 
had  been  erected  for  the  accommodation  of  the  forming 
Iowa  regiments,  to  which  was  given  the  name  of  "  Camp 
McClellan." 

Thither  were  transported  the  condemned  Sioux  who 
had  been  kept  at  Mankato  during  the  winter.  On  the 
opening  of  navigation  in  the  spring  of  1863,  a  steamboat 
ascended  to  Mankato,  took  on  the  prisoners,  and,  on 
reaching  Fort  Snelling,  put  off  about  fifty  men  who  had 
not  been  condemned,  to  unite  their  fortunes  with  those 
in  the  camp.  The  men  under  condemnation  were 
taken  down  to  Davenport,  where,  at  Camp  McClellan, 
they  were  guarded  by  soldiers  for  the  next  three 
years. 

220 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  221 

After  a  little  while,  their  irons  were  all  taken  off,  and 
they  enjoyed  comparative  liberty,  being  often  permitted 
to  go  to  the  town  to  trade  their  bows  and  arrows  and 
other  trinkets,  and  sometimes  into  the  country  around  to 
labor,  without  a  guard.  They  never  attempted  to  make 
their  escape,  though  at  one  time  it  was  meditated  by 
some,  but  so  strongly  and  wisely  opposed  by  the  more 
considerate  ones,  that  the  plan  was  at  once  abandoned. 
Generally  the  soldiers  who  guarded  them  treated  them 
kindly.  It  was  remarked  that  a  new  company,  whether 
of  the  regular  army  or  of  volunteers,  when  assigned  to 
this  duty,  at  the  first  treated  the  prisoners  with  a  good 
deal  of  severity  and  harshness.  But  a  few  weeks  sufficed 
to  change  their  feelings,  and  they  were  led  to  pity,  and 
then  to  respect,  those  whom  they  had  regarded  as  worse 
than  wild  beasts. 

The  camp  was  not  a  pleasant  place,  except  in  summer. 
The  surroundings  were  rather  beautiful.  The  oak  groves 
of  the  hill-side  which  bordered  the  river  were  attractive. 
And  the  buildings  occupied  by  the  troops  were  comfort 
able.  But  within  the  stockade,  where  the  prisoners  were 
kept,  the  houses  were  of  the  most  temporary  kind, 
through  the  innumerable  crevices  of  which  blew  the 
winter  winds  and  storms.  Only  a  limited  amount  of 
wood  was  furnished  them,  which,  in  the  cold  windy 
weather,  was  often  consumed  by  noon.  Then  the 
Indians  were  under  the  necessity  of  keeping  warm, 
if  they  could,  in  the  straw  and  under  their  worn  blank 
ets. 

In  these  circumstances,  many  would  naturally  fall  sick 
go  into  a  decline,  —  pulmonary  consumption,  for  which 
their  scrofulous  bodies  had  a  liking,  —  and  die.  The  hos 
pital  was  generally  well  filled  with  such  cases.  The 


222  MARY    AND    I. 

death-rate  was  very  large  —  more  than  ten  per  cent, 
each  year,  making  about  120  deaths  while  they  were 
confined  at  that  place,  About  one  hundred  men,  women, 
and  children,  who  came  afterward  into  the  hands  of 
the  military,  were  added  to  those  who  were  first  brought 
down.  These  latter  were  uncondemned.  As  some, 
women  had  been  permitted  to  come  with  the  prisoners 
at  the  first,  and  now  more  were  added,  a  good  many 
children  were  born  there.  And  thus  it  came  to  pass 
that  all  who  were  released  and  returned  to  their  people 
from  this  prison  numbered  only  about  two  hundred  and 
fourscore. 

For  the  first  two  years  of  their  abode  at  Davenport, 
Dr.  Williamson  had  the  chief  care  of  the  educational 
and  church  work  among  them.  During  this  time  I 
only  visited  them  twice.  Once,  when  a  difficulty  and 
misunderstanding  had  arisen  between  Dr.  Williamson 
and  a  General  Roberts,  who  at  one  time  commanded 
that  department,  the  doctor  was  obliged  to  return  to 
his  home  in  St.  Peter.  On  learning  the  fact,  I  coun 
selled  with  General  Sibley,  who  gave  me  a  letter  to 
General  Roberts.  Before  I  reached  there,  however, 
Roberts  had  become  ashamed  of  his  conduct,  as  I 
judged,  and  so  I  found  it  quite  easy  to  restore  ami 
cable  relations.  No  such  difficulties  occurred  there 
after. 

For  the  prisoners  these  were  educational  years.  They 
were  better  supplied  with  books  than  they  could  be  at 
Mankato.  A  new  edition  of  our  Dakota  hymn-book  was 
gotten  out,  and  in  1885  an  edition  of  the  Dakota  Bible 
so  far  as  translated,  besides  other  books.  The  avails  of 
their  work  in  mussel-shells  and  bows  gave  them  the 
means  of  purchasing  paper  and  books. 


FORTY   YEARS   WITH    THE    SIOUX.  223 

With  only  a  few  exceptions,  all  in  the  prison  who 
were  adults  professed  to  be  Christians.  A  few  had 
been  baptized  by  Rev.  S.  D.  Hininan,  of  the  Episcopal 
church,  who  visited  them  once  while  at  Davenport.  But 
while  a  number  were  recognized  as  members  of  that 
church,  they  worshipped  all  together.  Morning  and 
night  they  had  their  singing  and  praying;  but  espe 
cially  at  night,  when  they  were  not  likely  to  be  dis 
turbed  by  any  order  from  the  officer  in  command. 

In  church  matters  they  naturally  fell  into  classes  ac 
cording  to  their  former  clans  or  villages.  In  each  of 
these  classes  one  —  or  more  than  one  —  Hoonkayape 
was  ordained.  He  was  the  elder  and  class-leader. 
This  arrangement  was  made  by  Dr.  Williamson.  It 
was  one  step  toward  raising  up  for  them  pastors  from 
themselves.  On  our  part  it  was  a  felt  necessity,  for 
we  could  not  properly  watch  over  and  care  for  these 
people  as  they  could  watch  over  and  care  for  each  other. 
So  the  work  of  education  and  establishment  in  the  faith 
of  the  Gospel  was  carried  on. 

Let  us  now  return  to  follow  for  a  little  the  fortunes 
of  those  in  the  camp  at  Fort  Snelling.  The  winter  of 
suspense  had  worn  away,  and  in  the  month  of  April, 
soon  after  the  Mankato  prisoners  passed  down  into  Iowa, 
those  at  Snelling  were  placed  on  a  steamboat,  and  floated 
down  to  St.  Louis  and  up  the  Missouri  to  Crow  Creek, 
where  they  were  told  to  make  homes.  Mr.  J.  P.  Will 
iamson  went  with  them,  and  remained  with  them,  dur 
ing  those  terrible  years  of  suffering  and  death.  Who  can 
tell  the  story  better  than  he  ? 

"  As  they  look  on  their  native  hills  for  the  last  time,  a 
dark  cloud  is  crushing  their  hearts.  Down  they  go  to 


224  MARY    AND    I. 

St.  Louis,  thence  up  the  Missouri  to  Crow  Creek.  But 
this  brings  little  relief,  for  what  of  the  men ;  and  can 
the  women  and  children  ever  live  in  this  parched 
land,  where  neither  rain  nor  dew  was  seen  for  many 
weeks? 

"  The  mortality  was  fearful.  The  shock,  the  anxiety, 
the  confinement,  the  pitiable  diet,  were  naturally  followed 
by  sickness.  Many  died  at  Fort  Snelling.  The  steam 
boat  trip  of  over  one  month,  under  some  circumstances, 
might  have  been  a  benefit  to  their  health,  but  when 
1300  Indians  were  crowded  like  slaves  on  the  boiler 
and  hurricane  decks  of  a  single  boat,  and  fed  on  musty 
hardtack  and  briny  pork,  which  they  had  not  half  a 
chance  to  cook,  diseases  were  bred  which  made  fearful 
havoc  during  the  hot  months,  and  the  1300  souls  that 
were  landed  at  Crow  Creek  June  1,  1863,  decreased  to 
one  thousand.  For  a  time  a  teepee  where  no  one  was 
sick  could  scarcely  be  found,  and  it  was  a  rare  day  when 
there  was  no  funeral.  So  were  the  hills  soon  covered 
with  graves.  The  very  memory  of  Crow  Creek  became 
horrible  to  the  Santees,  who  still  hush  their  voices  at  the 
mention  of  the  name. 

"  Meetings,  always  an  important  means  of  grace,  were 
greatly  multiplied.  Daily  meetings  were  commenced  at 
Fort  Snelling;  the  steamboat  was  made  a  Bethel  for  daily 
praise,  and  the  Crow  Creek  daily  prayer-meetings  were 
held  each  summer  under  boo'ths,  which  plan  was  contin 
ued  the  first  summer  at  Niobrara.  Women's  prayer- 
meetings  were  commenced  at  Crow  Creek,  deaconesses 
being  appointed  to  have  charge  of  them.  The  children 
also  had  meetings,  conducted  by  themselves.  All  these 
means  were  blessed  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  the  breaking  of 
the  Herculean  chains  of  Paganism," 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  225 

Soon  after  reaching  Crow  Creek,  Mr.  Williamson  called 
to  his  assistance  Mr.  Edward  R.  Pond  and  his  wife,  Mrs. 
Mary  Frances  Pond — born  Hopkins  —  both  children  of 
the  old  missionaries,  who  continued  with  these  people 
until  the  year  1870. 

For  the  security  of  the  Minnesota  frontier,  and  to  fur 
ther  chastise  the  Sioux,  military  expeditions  were  organ 
ized  in  the  spring  and  summer  of  1863.  The  one  that 
went  from  Minnesota  was  in  command  of  Gen.  H.  H. 
Sibley.  Attached  to  this  expedition  was  a  corps  of 
scouts,  forty  or  fifty  of  them  being  Dakota  men,  who  had 
in  some  way,  and  to  some  extent,  showed  themselves  to 
be  on  the  side  of  the  white  people,  at  the  time  of  the 
outbreak.  In  this  expedition  I  had  the  position  of  inter 
preter. 

The  families  of  these  Sioux  scouts  were  sent  out  to  the 
frontier,  and  maintained  by  the  government,  not  only 
during  that  summer,  but  for  several  years.  This  was 
known  as  the  "  Scouts'  Camp,"  and  the  church  among 
them  was  called  by  the  same  name,  until  1869,  when 
several  churches  were  formed  out  of  this  one,  as  they  be 
gan  to  scatter  and  settle  down  on  the  new  Sisseton  Res 
ervation. 

In  the  summer  of  1864,  I  visited  their  camp  at  the 
head  of  the  Red  Wood.  The  next  summer  I  was  with 
them  for  a  short  time  at  the  Yellow  Medicine.  At  each 
of  these  visits  quite  a  number  of  additions  was  made  to 
the  roll  of  church  members  —  infants  and  grown  persons 
were  baptized,  marriages  were  solemnized,  and  ruling 
elders  were  ordained.  During  these  years  we  had  licensed 
and  ordained  as  an  evangelist  John  B.  Renville,  who  ac 
companied  me  on  each  of  the  visits  mentioned. 


226  MAEY   AND    I. 

Let  me  now  gather  up,  and  weave  in,  some  threads  of 
our  home-life.  For  three  years  Mary  and  the  children 
made  their  home  in  St.  Anthony,  now  East  Minneapolis, 
in  a  hired  house.  Our  three  boys,  at  the  commencement 
of  this  period,  being  fifteen  and  thirteen  and  seven  respect 
ively,  were  at  a  good  age  to  be  profited  by  the  schools  of 
the  town.  Thomas  and  Henry  soon  commenced  the  rudi 
ments  of  the  Latin  in  Mr.  Butterfield's  school.  While, 
to  add  to  the  family  finances,  Isabella  and  Martha,  in 
turn,  and  sometimes  both,  engaged  in  teaching. 

When  a  student  in  Chicago  Theological  Seminary,  Al 
fred  formed  the  acquaintance  of  Mary  Buel  Hatch. 
Her  father  had  died  in  her  childhood  ;  and  her  mother 
had  resided  a  while  in  Rockford,  111.,  educating  her  daugh 
ters,  but  was  now  living  in  Chicago.  The  attachment 
then  formed  resulted  in  marriage,  after  Alfred  had  been 
located  a  year  at  Lockport,  111.,  where  he  was  called,  im 
mediately  on  graduating,  to  be  the  religious  teacher  of 
the  Congregational  church. 

In  the  month  of  June,  1863,  they  took  their  wedding 
journey,  and  visited  the  improvised  home  of  the  family 
in  St.  Anthony,  whence  they  returned  and  made  their 
own  home  at  Lockport  for  four  years.  This  first  daugh 
ter  introduced  into  the  family  has  charmed  us  all  by  her 
active,  sunshiny  Christian  life. 

Returning  from  the  military  campaign  in  the  fall  of 
1863,  when  there  seemed  to  be  no  special  call  for  my 
services  with  the  Indians,  I  addressed  myself  for  the 
next  six  months  to  a  revision  and  completion  of  the  New 
Testament  in  the  Dakota  langunge.  It  was  a  winter  of 
very  hard  and  confining  work,  and  right  glad  was  I  when 
the  spring  came,  and  I  could  find  some  recreation  in  the 
garden. 


FORTY   YEAES    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  227 

The  next  autumn  I  went  to  New  York  and  spent  three 
months  in  the  Bible  House,  reading  the  proof  of  our  new 
Dakota  Bible,  and  having  some  other  printing  done.  To 
the  New  Testament  above  mentioned,  Dr.  Williamson 
had  added  a  revised  Genesis  and  Proverbs.  It  was  at 
this  time  the  Bible  Society  commenced  making  electro 
type  plates  of  the  Dakota  Scriptures. 

Mary's  health,  always  tenacious  but  never  vigorous, 
had  received  a  severe  shock  by  the  outbreak  and  what 
followed.  But  she  did  not  at  once  succumb.  Her  will 
power  was  very  strong,  which  often  proved  sufficient  to 
keep  her  up  when  some  others  would  have  placed  them 
selves  in  the  hands  of  a  physician.  But  the  house  she 
lived  in  became  more  frail  and  worn  in  the  summer  and 
autumn  of  1864,  and  she  was  obliged  to  take  some  special 
steps  toward  upbuilding.  For  some  weeks  at  the  close 
of  the  year,  when  I  was  absent,  she  was  prevailed  upon 
to  try  a  residence  at  a  water-cure,  but  without  any  per 
manent  benefit. 

As  yet,  the  Dakota  work,  while  it  had  given  each  one 
of  us  plenty  to  do,  did  not  assume  anything  like  a  per 
manent  shape.  Things  were  still  in  a  chaotic  state.  What 
would  be  the  outcome,  no  one  could  tell  in  the  year  1865. 
There  was  a  time  when  I  seriously  asked  the  question, 
"What  shall  I  do?  Shall  I  seek  some  other  work,  or 
still  wait  to  see  what  the  months  will  bring  forth  ?  "  I 
had  even  made  it  a  subject  of  correspondence  witli 
Secretary  Treat,  whether  I  might  not  turn  my  attention 
partly  to  preaching  to  white  people,  and  do  a  kind  of 
half-and-half  work.  That  plan  was  at  once  discouraged 
by  Mr.  Treat;  and  then  Mr.  G.  H.  Pond  came  to  my 
relief,  giving  it  as  his  decided  conviction  that  I  should 


228  MARY   AND   I. 

hold  on  to  the  Dakota  work.  So  that  question  was 
settled. 

But  where  this  work  would  be  located  did  not  then  ap 
pear.  There  did  not  seem  to  be  any  great  reason  why 
we  should  remain  in  St.  Anthony.  The  immediate  family 
business  was  the  education  of  our  children.  In  the  au 
tumn  previous,  I  had  taken  Thomas  to  Beloit,  where, 
ufter  making  up  some  studies,  he  had  entered  the  fresh 
man  class.  Could  we  not  better  accomplish  this  part  of 
our  God-given  trust  by  removing  thither,  and  for  a  while 
making  that  our  home  ?  By  so  doing,  I  might  be  farther 
away  from  any  permanent  place  of  work  among  the 
Dakotas.  On  the  other  hand,  I  would  be  nearer  the  pris 
oners  at  Davenport,  and  could  relieve  Dr.  Williamson  for 
the  winter,  which  was  desired.  In  this  state  of  doubt,  it 
often  seemed  that  it  would  have  been  so  comforting  and 
satisfying  if  we  could  have  heard  the  Lord's  voice  say 
ing,  "  This  is  the  way,  walk  ye  in  it."  But  no  such  voice 
came.  However,  as  Mary  recruited  in  the  summer,  and 
it  seemed  quite  probable  she  would  be  able  to  remove, 
our  judgment  trended  to  Beloit,  and  I  made  arrangements 
for  a  family  home  by  the  purchase  of  a  small  cottage  and 
garden,  which  have  been  a  comfort  to  us  in  all  these 
years. 

And  so,  in  the  month  of  September,  we  came  to  the 
southern  line  of  Wisconsin.  Anna  had  just  completed 
the  course  at  Rockford  Female  Seminary,  and  was  ready 
to  do  duty  in  our  new  home.  Martha  accepted  a  call  to 
teach  at  Mankato.  Isabella  accompanied  us  to  Beloit, 
having  under  consideration  the  question  of  going  to  China 
with  Rev.  Mark  W.  Williams.  This  decision  was  not 
fully  reached  until  the  meeting  of  the  American  Board  in 
Chicago,  in  the  fall  of  1865.  One  day  she  and  I  walked 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  229 

down  Washington  street  together,  and  talked  over  the 
subject,  and  she  gave  in  her  answer. 

In  the  early  days  of  that  year,  two  of  the  leaders  in 
the  outbreak  of  1862  were  captured  from  beyond  the 
British  line,  and,  after  a  trial  by  a  military  commission, 
were  condemned  to  be  hanged.  These  men  were  com 
monly  known  as  Little  Six  and  Medicine  Bottle.  While  in 
Chicago  at  the  meeting  of  the  Board,  I  received  a  note 
from  Colonel  McLaren,  commanding  at  Fort  Snelling,  ask 
ing  me  to  attend  these  men  before  their  execution.  The 
invitation  was  sent  at  their  request.  I  obeyed  the 
summons,  and  spent  a  couple  of  days  with  the  condemned. 
But  while  I  was  there  a  telegram  came  from  Washington 
giving  them  a  reprieve.  This  relieved  me  from  being 
present  when  they  were  hanged,  one  month  afterward. 

The  winter  that  followed,  I  gave  to  the  prisoners  at 
Davenport.  They  had  passed  through  the  small-pox 
with  considerable  loss  of  life ;  and  that  winter  only  the 
ordinary  cases  of  sickness  and  the  ordinary  number  of 
deaths  occurred.  These  were  numerous  enough.  The 
confinement  of  nearly  four  years,  and  the  uncertainty 
which  had  always  rested  upon  them  like  a  nightmare, 
had  all  along  produced  many  cases  of  decline.  And  even 
when  the  time  of  their  deliverance  drew  nigh,  and  hope 
should  have  made  them  buoyant,  they  were  too  much 
afraid  to  hope  —  the  promise  was  too  good  to  be 
believed. 

Before  their  release,  I  was  called  home  to  attend,  on 
the  21st  of  February,  the  marriage  of  Isabella  and  Mr. 
Williams,  and  to  bid  them  God-speed  on  their  long 
journey  by  sailing  vessel  to  China. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

1866-1869.  —  Prisoners  Meet  their  Families  at  the  Niobrara.  — 
Our  Summer's  Visitation.  — At  the  Scouts'  Camp.  — Crossing 
the  Prairie.  —  Killing  Buffalo.  —  At  Niobrara.  —  Keligious 
Meetings.  —  Licensing  Natives.  —  Visiting  the  Omahas.  — 
Scripture  Translating.  —  Sisseton  Treaty  at  Washington.  — 
Second  Visit  to  the  Santees. —  Artemas  and  Titus  Ordained. — 
Crossing  to  the  Head  of  the  Coteau.  —  Organizing  Churches 
and  Licensing  Dakotas.  — Solomon,  Robert,  Louis,  Daniel. — 
On  Horseback  in  1868.  —  Visit  to  the  Santees,  Yanktons,  and 
Brules.  —  Gathering  at  Dry  Wood.  —  Solomon  Ordained.  — 
Writing  "Takoo  Wakan."  —  Mary's  Sickness.  —  Grand 
Hymns.  —  Going  through  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow.  —  Death  ! 

THE  spring  of  1866  saw  the  prisoners  at  Davenport 
released  by  order  of  the  President ;  and  their  families, 
which  had  remained  at  Crow  Creek  for  three  dry  and 
parched  years,  were  permitted  to  join  their  husbands  and 
brothers  and  fathers  at  Niobrara,  in  the  north-east  angle 
of  Nebraska.  That  was  a  glad  and  a  sad  meeting ;  but 
the  gladness  prevailed  over  the  sadness.  And  now  all 
the  Dakotas  with  whom  we  had  been  laboring  were 
again  in  a  somewhat  normal  condition.  All  had  passed 
through  strange  trials  and  tribulations,  and  God  had 
brought  them  out  into  a  large  place.  The  prisoners  had 
prayed  that  their  chains  might  be  removed.  God  heard 
them,  and  the  chains  were  now  a  thing  of  the  past.  They 
had  prayed  that  they  might  again  have  a  country,  and 
now  they  were  in  the  way  of  receiving  that  at  the  hand 
of  the  Lord. 


FORTY    YEAKS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  231 

And  so,  as  Rev.  John  P.  Williamson  was  with  the 
united  church  of  camp  and  prison  on  the  Missouri,  Dr.  T. 
S.  Williamson  and  I  took  with  us  John  B.  Renville  and 
started  on  a  tour  of  summer  visitation.  After  a  week's 
travel  from  St.  Peter,  in  Minnesota,  we  reached  the 
Scouts'  Camp,  which,  in  the  month  of  June,  186(5,  we 
found  partly  on  the  margin  of  Lake  Traverse,  and  partly 
at  Buffalo  Lake,  in  the  country  which  was  afterward  set 
apart  for  their  especial  use. 

At  both  of  these  places  we  administered  the  Lord's 
Supper,  ordained  Daniel  Renville  as  a  ruling  elder,  and 
licensed  Peter  Big-Fire  and  Simon  Anawangmane  to 
preach  the  Gospel.  Neither  of  these  men  developed  into 
preachers,  but  they  have  been  useful  as  exhorters  from 
that  day  to  this.  On  the  Fourth  of  July,  we  added  Peter 
to  our  little  company,  and  started  across  from  Fort 
Wadsworth,  which  had  only  recently  been  established,  to 
Crow  Creek  on  the  Missouri.  From  that  point  we  passed 
down  to  the  mouth  of  the  Niobrara. 

On  this  journey  across  the  prairie  we  encountered  many 
herds  of  buffalo.  Sometimes  they  were  far  to  one  side 
of  us,  and  we  could  pass  by  without  molesting  them. 
Once,  on  the  first  day  from  Wadsworth,  we  came  suddenly 
upon  a  herd  of  a  hundred  or  more,  lying  down.  When 
we  discovered  them,  they  were  only  about  half  a  mile  in 
front  of  us.  Peter  said  it  was  too  good  a  chance  not  to 
be  improved ;  he  must  shoot  one.  We  gave  him  leave  to 
try,  and  he  crawled  around  over  some  low  ground  and 
killed  a  very  fine  cow.  We  could  only  take  a  little  of  the 
meat,  leaving  the  rest  to  be  devoured  by  prairie  wolves. 
This  episode  in  the  day's  travel  frightened  our  horses, 
delayed  us  somewhat,  and  made  us  late,  getting  into  camp 
at  the  "Buzzard's  Nest."  The  result  was  that  in  the 


232  MAKY   AND    I. 

gloaming  our  horses  all  broke  away,  and  gave  us  four 
hours  of  hunting  for  them  the  next  morning.  Then  we 
had  a  long,  hot  ride,  without  water,  over  the  burning 
prairie,  to  James  River. 

As  I  have  said,  the  prisoners  released  from  Davenport 
and  their  families  from  Crow  Creek  had  met  at  Niobrara. 
This  point  had  been  selected  for  a  town  site,  and  a  com 
pany  had  erected  a  large  shell  of  a  frame  house  intended 
for  a  hotel.  Their  plans  had  failed,  and  now  the  thought 
probably  was  to  reimburse  themselves  out  of  the  govern 
ment. 

We  found  the  Indians  living  in  tents,  while  the  fam 
ilies  of  Mr.  Williamson  and  Mr.  Pond  and  others  were 
accommodated  with  shelter  in  the  big  house.  For  their 
religious  mass-meetings,  they  had  erected  a  large  booth, 
which  served  well  in  the  dry  weather  of  summer.  Every 
day,  morning  and  evening,  they  gathered  there  for  prayer 
and  praise,  reading  the  Bible  and  telling  what  God  had 
done  for  them.  They  had  come  too  late  to  plant,  and 
there  was  but  little  employment  for  them,  and  so  the 
weeks  we  spent  there  were  weeks  of  worship,  given  to  the 
strengthening  of  the  things  that  remain,  and  arranging 
for  future  educational  and  Christian  work.  The  churches 
of  the  prison  and  the  camp  were  consolidated,  and  we  se 
lected  and  licensed  Artemas  Ehnamane  and  Titus  Icha- 
dooze  as  probationers  for  the  Gospel  ministry.  When  we 
had  remained  as  long  as  seemed  desirable,  Dr.  William 
son  and  I  left  them,  and  came  down  to  the  Omaha  Re 
serve,  where  we  visited  the  new  agency  among  the  Win- 
nebagoes  and  the  Presbyterian  Boarding-School  among 
the  Ornahas.  The  latter  was  flourishing,  but,  having 
been  conducted  in  English  alone,  its  spiritual  results  were 
very  unsatisfactory. 


FOKTY    YEAKS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  233 

The  multiplication  of  Dakota  readers  during  the  past 
few  years  gave  a  new  impulse  to  our  work  of  translating 
the  Scriptures,  and  made  larger  demands  for  other  books. 
This  furnished  a  great  amount  of  winter  work  for  both 
Dr.  Williamson  and  myself.  In  five  years  we  added  the 
Psalms,  Ecclesiastes,  the  Song,  and  Isaiah,  together  with 
the  other  four  books  of  Moses,  to  what  he  had  printed  in 
1865. 

The  Wahpatons  and  Sissetons,  who  constituted  the 
Scouts'  Camp  on  the  western  border  of  Minnesota,  and 
who  had  done  good  service  in  protecting  the  white 
settlements  from  the  roving,  horse-stealing  Sioux  in  the 
first  months  of  1867,  sent  a  delegation  to  Washington 
to  make  a  treaty,  and  obtain  the  guarantee  of  a  home 
and  government  help.  While  that  delegation  was  in 
Washington,  I  took  occasion  to  spend  a  month  or  more 
in  lobbying  in  the  interests  of  Indian  civilization.  To 
me  this  kind  of  work  was  always  distasteful  and  un 
satisfactory,  and  this  time  I  came  home  to  be  taken 
down  with  inflammatory  rheumatism.  I  had  planned 
for  an  early  summer  campaign  in  the  Dakota  country, 
but  it  was  July  before  I  could  get  courage  enough  to 
start.  And  then  it  was  with  a  great  deal  of  pain  that  I 
endured  the  stage  ride  between  Omaha  and  Sioux  City. 
There  I  was  met  by  Dr.  Williamson,  in  his  little  wagon, 
and  together  we  proceeded  up  to  the  settlement  in 
Nebraska. 

Since  we  had  been  there  in  the  previous  summer,  these 
people  had  drifted  down  on  to  Bazille  Creek,  where 
Mr.  Williamson  and  Mr.  Pond  had  erected  shacks  —  that 
is,  log  houses  with  dirt  roofs  —  and  between  the  two  had 
made  a  room  for  assembly.  The  two  men  we  had  licensed 
the  summer  previous  were  this  season  ordained  and  set 


234  MARY    AND   I. 

over  the  native  church,  Mr.  Williamson  still  retaining 
the  oversight.  At  each  visitation  we  endeavored  to 
work  the  native  church  members  up  to  a  feeling  of 
responsibility  in  the  work  of  contributing  to  the  sup 
port  of  their  pastors,  but  it  has  been  no  easy  under 
taking. 

This  summer,  with  Robert  Hopkins  and  Adam  Paze 
for  our  companions  in  travel,  the  doctor  and  I  crossed 
over  directly  from  Niobrara  to  the  head  of  the  Coteau. 
Those  Indians  we  now  found  considerably  scattered  on 
their  new  reservation.  Some  general  lines  began  to  ap 
pear  in  the  settlement,  and  during  this  and  our  visit  in 
the  year  following  several  church  organizations  were 
effected;  and  Solomon  Toonkan-Shaecheya,  Robert 
Hopkins,  Louis  Mazawakinyanna,  and  Daniel  Renville 
were  licensed  to  preach. 

Louis  was  an  elder  in  the  prison  and  on  the  Niobrara, 
and  of  his  own  motion  had  gone  over  to  Fort  Wads- 
worth,  and,  finding  a  community  of  Sioux  scouts  con 
nected  with  the  garrison,  commenced  religious  work 
among  them.  In  this  he  was  supported  and  encouraged 
by  the  chaplain,  Rev.  G.  D.  Crocker.  This  year  our 
camp-meeting  was  held  on  the  border  of  the  Coteau  as  it 
looks  down  on  Lake  Traverse. 

The  opening  of  the  season  of  1868  found  me  starting 
from  Sioux  City  on  a  gray  pony,  which  I  rode  across  to 
Minnesota.  But  first  I  spent  some  weeks  with  the  San- 
tees.  They  had  partly  removed  from  Bazille  Creek  down 
to  the  bottom  where  the  agency  is  now  located.  A  long 
log  house  had  been  prepared  for  a  church  and  school- 
house.  The  Episcopalians  were  building  extensively 
and  expensively,  while  our  folks  contented  themselves 
with  very  humble  abodes.  The  work  of  education  had 


FOKTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  235 

progressed  very  finely,  Mr.  Williamson  and  Mr.  Pond 
giving  much  time  to  it,  while  Mrs.  Pond  and  Mrs. 
Williamson  greatly  helped  the  women  in  their  religious 
home-life. 

This  summer  John  P.  Williamson  and  I  took  Artemas 
Ehnamane,  the  senior  native  minister  of  the  Pilgrim 
Church,  and  crossed  over  to  Fort  Wads  worth,  where  Dr. 
Williamson  and  John  B.  Renville  met  us.  On  the  way, 
we  made  a  short  stop  at  the  Yankton  agency,  which  we 
had  visited  two  years  before.  Now  it  was  opening  up 
as  a  field  of  promise  to  Mr.  Williamson,  and  he  pro 
ceeded  to  occupy  it  soon  afterward.  We  made  another 
stop,  for  preaching  purposes,  at  Brule  and  Crow  Creek, 
where  the  pastor  of  Santee  showed  himself  able  to  gain 
the  attention  of  the  wild  Sioux.  Our  ride  across  the 
desert  land  was  enlivened  by  conversation  on  Dakota 
customs  and  Dakota  songs.  In  both  these  departments 
of  literature,  this  former  hunter  and  warrior  from  Red 
Wing  was  an  excellent  teacher. 

This  annual  gathering  at  the  head  of  the  Coteau  was 
held  at  Dry  Wood  Lake,  where  Peter  Big-Fire  had  set 
tled.  It  was  the  most  remarkable  of  all  those  yearly 
camp-meetings.  On  this  occasion  about  sixty  persons 
were  added  to  our  church  list.  It  was  a  sight  to  be 
remembered,  when,  on  the  open  prairie,  they  and  their 
children  stood  up  to  be  baptized. 

At  the  close  of  this  meeting  we  held  another  at 
Buffalo  Lake,  in  one  of  their  summer  houses,  which  was 
full  of  meaning.  The  recently  organized  church  of 
Long  Hollow,  which  then  extended  to  Buffalo  Lake, 
had  selected  Solomon  to  be  their  religious  teacher. 
And  this  after  meeting  was  held  to  ordain  and  install 
him  as  pastor  of  that  church.  He  was  a  young  man 


MARY    AND    I. 

of  Christian  experience  and  blameless  life,  and  has  since 
proved  himself  to  be  a  very  reliable  and  useful  native 
pastor. 

Since  the  marvels  of  grace  wrought  among  the  Dako- 
tas  in  the  prison  and  camp,  we  had  received  numerous 
invitations  to  prepare  some  account  thereof  for  the 
Christian  public.  Several  of  these  requests  came  from 
members  of  the  Dakota  Presbytery,  which  then  covered 
the  western  part  of  Minnesota.  Accordingly,  I  had 
taken  up  the  idea,  and  endeavored  to  work  it  out.  Some 
chapters  had  been  submitted  for  examination  to  a  com 
mittee  of  the  Presbytery,  and  commended  by  them  for 
publication.  In  the  autumn  and  winter  of  1868,  the 
manuscript  began  to  assume  a  completed  form.  It  was 
submitted  to  Secretary  S.  B.  Treat  for  examination,  who 
made  valuable  suggestions,  and  agreed  to  write  an  intro 
duction  to  the  book.  This  he  did,  in  a  manner  highly 
satisfactory. 

The  manuscript  I  first  offered  to  the  Presbyterian 
Board  of  Publication.  But  the  best  that  Dr.  Dulles 
could  do  was  to  offer  me  a  hundred  dollars  for  the  copy 
right.  Friends  in  Boston  thought  I  could  do  better 
there.  And  so  "  Tahkoo  Wakan,"  or  "  The  Gospel  Among 
the  Dakotas,"  was  brought  out  by  the  Congregational 
Publishing  Society,  in  the  summer  of  1869.  In  the  prep 
aration  of  the  book  Mary  had  taken  the  deepest  interest, 
although  not  able  to  do  much  of  the  mental  work.  The 
preface  bears  date  less  than  three  weeks  before  her 
death. 

Authors  whose  books  do  not  sell  very  well,  I  suppose, 
generally  marvel  at  the  result.  This  little  volume  was, 
and  is  still,  so  intensely  interesting  to  me  that  I  wonder 
why  everybody  does  not  buy  and  read  it.  But  over 


FOKTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  237 

against  this  stands  the  fact  that  hitherto  less  than  two 
thousand  copies  have  been  disposed  of.  Pecuniarily,  it 
has  not  been  a  success.  But  neither  has  it  been  an  entire 
failure.  And  perhaps  it  has  done  some  good  in  bringing 
a  class  of  Christian  workers  into  more  intelligent  sympa 
thy  and  co-operation  in  the  work  of  Indian  evangeliza 
tion;  and  so  the  labor  is  not  lost. 

Since  we  left  Minnesota,  Mary  had  apparently  been 
slowly  recovering  from  the  invalidism  of  the  past.  She 
enjoyed  life.  She  could  occasionally  attend  religious 
meetings.  The  society  of  Beloit  was  very  congenial. 
Sometimes  she  was  able  to  attend  the  ministers'  meet 
ings,  and  enjoyed  the  literary  and  religious  discussions 
and  criticisms.  The  last  winter  —  that  of  1868-69  — 
she  became  exceedingly  interested  in  a  book  called  "  The 
Seven  Great  Hymns  of  the  Mediaeval  Church."  She 
read  and  re-read  the  various  translations  of  Dies  Tree. 
But  she  was  attracted  most  to  the  Hora  JVbvissima  of 
Bernard  of  Cluni.  Such  a  stanza  as  the  26th  :  — 

"  Thou  hast  no  shore,  fair  ocean! 

Thou  hast  no  time,  bright  day! 
Dear  fountain  of  refreshment 
To  pilgrims  far  away ! 

"  Upon  the  Rock  of  Ages 

They  raise  thy  holy  Tower; 
Thine  is  the  victor's  laurel, 
And  thine  the  golden  Dower." 

And  the  29th  :  — 

"  Jerusalem  the  golden, 

With  milk  and  honey  blest, 
Beneath  thy  contemplation, 
Sink  heart  and  voice  oppressed. 


238  MAKY   AND   I. 

"  I  know  not,  oh,  I  know  not, 
What  social  joys  are  there; 
What  radiancy  of  glory, 
What  light  beyond  compare! " 

But  these  and  others  were  all  eclipsed  by  the  last, 
which  seemed  afterward  to  have  been  a  prophecy  of  what 
was  near  at  hand,  and  yet  neither  she  nor  we  anticipated 
it:  — 

"  Exult,  O  dust  and  ashes! 

The  Lord  shall  be  thy  part; 
His  only,  his  forever, 

Thou  shalt  be,  and  thou  art! " 

This  was  a  fascination  to  her.  We  were  blind  at  the 
time,  and  did  not  see  afar  off.  Now  it  is  manifest  that 
even  then  she  was  preparing  to  go  to  "  Jerusalem  the 
only."  She  was  tenting  in  the  Land  of  Jfeulah. 

For  years  past  Mary  had  almost  ceased  to  write  letters. 
Neither  her  physical  nor  mental  condition  had  permitted 
it.  But  a  letter  is  found  written  on  the  2d  of  February, 
1869,  which  must  have  been  the  very  last  she  ever  wrote. 
Along  with  it  she  sent  a  copy  of  some  of  the  stanzas 
from  Hora  Nomssima,  which  at  this  time  were  such  an 
enjoyment  to  her.  The  letter  is  addressed  to  Isabella,  in 
China.  She  writes:  "Your  last  letter,  wrritten  October 
5,  '68,  was  received  January  5,  1869.  All  your  letters 
are  very  precious  to  us,  but  this  is  peculiarly  so.  Per 
haps  I  have  written  this  before;  but  if  I  have,  I  am  glad 
again  to  acknowledge  the  joy  it  gives  me  that  our 
Father  gives  you  faith  to  look  gratefully  beyond  the 
passing  shadows  of  this  life  into  the  abiding  light  of  the 
life  to  come. 

"  Was  the  19th  of  First  Chronicles  the  last  chapter  we 


FORTY    YEARS   WITH    THE    SIOUX.  239 

read  in  family  worship  before  you  left  home?  If  so,  the 
13th  verse  must  be  the  one  you  read :  <  Be  of  good  cour 
age,  and  let  us  behave  ourselves  valiantly  for  our  people, 
jind  for  the  cities  of  our  God  :  and  let  the  Lord  do  that 
which  is  good  in  his  sight.'  Even  so  let  it  be.  May  you 
ever  <be  strong  in  the  Lord.' " 

We  had  passed  the  nones  of  March.  It  was  on  Tues 
day,  the  10th,  as  I  well  remember,  the  day  of  the  minis 
ters'  meeting,  which  was  held  at  the  house  of  the  Presby 
terian  minister  Rev.  Mr.  Alexander.  Mary  had  been 
planning  to  attend  in  the  evening.  But  the  day  was 
chill  and  cold,  as  March  days  often  are.  She  had  been 
out  in  the  yard  seeing  to  the  washed  clothes,  and  had 
taken  cold.  In  the  evening  she  was  not  feeling  so  well, 
and  decided  to  stay  at  home.  For  several  days  she 
thought  —  and  we  thought  —  it  was  only  an  ordinary 
cold,  that  some  simple  medicines  and  care  in  diet  would 
remedy. 

On  Saturday,  as  she  seemed  to  be  growing  no  better, 
but  rather  worse,  I  called  in  Dr.  Taggart,  who  pro 
nounced  it  a  case  of  pneumonia.  The  attack,  he  said, 
was  a  severe  one,  and  her  lungs  were  very  seriously 
affected.  Her  hold  on  life  had  been  so  feeble  for  several 
years  that  we  could  not  expect  she  would  throw  off  dis 
ease  as  easily  as  a  person  of  more  vigor.  But  at  this 
time  her  own  impression  was  that  she  would  recover. 
And  the  doctor  said  he  saw  nothing  to  make  him  think 
she  would  not. 

But  soon  after  the  physician's  first  visit,  the  record  is, 
"She  was  occasionally  flighty  and  under  strange  hallu 
cinations,  caused  either  by  the  disease  or  the  medicines." 
On  the  following  Thursday,  she  evidently  began  to  be 
impressed  with  the  thought  that  she  possibly  would  not 


240  MARY    AND    I. 

get  well.  She  said  she  felt  more  unconscious  and  stupid 
than  she  had  ever  felt  before  in  sickness.  When,  in 
answer  to  her  inquiry  a&  to  what  the  doctor  said  of  her 
case,  I  told  her  he  was  very  hopeful,  she  said,  "  He  does 
not  know  much  more  about  it  than  we  do."  At  one 
time  she  remarked,  "  I  feel  very  delicious,  the  taking 
down  of  the  tabernacle  appears  so  beautiful " ;  and  she 
desired  me  to  get  Bernard's  Hymn,  and  read  such  pas 
sages  as  "  Jerusalem  the  Golden "  and  "  Exult,  O  dust 
and  ashes." 

"Friday,  March  19,  noon. 

"  I  watched  with  your  mother  last  night.  Her  strength 
seems  to  keep  up  wonderfully  well,  but  the  disease  has 
quite  affected  her  power  of  speech.  When  it  came  light, 
I  perceived  a  livid  hue  about  her  eyes,  and  became 
alarmed.  We  sent  for  Dr.  Taggart.  The  propriety  of 
continuing  the  whiskey  prescriptions  seemed  quite 
doubtful,  especially  as  the  mother  was  taking  them 
under  a  conscientious  protest.  When  the  doctor  came, 
he  appeared  to  be  alarmed  also,  and  changed  his  treat 
ment  from  Dover's  powders  to  quinine,  but  wished  the 
whiskey  continued. 

"  During  the  morning  she  spoke  several  times  about 
the  probabilities  of  life.  l  God  knows  the  best  time,'  she 
said ;  '  but,  if  I  am  to  go  now,  I  do  not  wish  to  linger 
long.'  She  had  been  able,  she  said,  to  do  but  little  for 
years,  and  there  was  not  much  reason  for  her  living  — 
but  she  would  be  glad  to  stay  longer  for  the  children's 
sake.  At  one  time  she  remarked,  in  substance:  'I  have 
tried  all  along  to  do  right ;  I  don't  know  that  I  should 
be  able  to  do  better  if  the  life  was  to  be  lived  over 
again.'  " 


FORTY   YEAES    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  241 

"  Saturday  noon,  March  20. 

"  It  is  a  privilege  that  I  never  knew  before  to  watch 
and  wait  in  a  sick  chamber  where  one  is  in  sympathy 
and  contact  with  the  spirit  that  is  mounting  upward.  It 
does  seem  as  if  the  pins  of  the  tabernacle  were  indeed 
being  taken  out  one  by  one,  and  the  taking  of  it  down 
is  beautiful  —  how  much  more  beautiful  will  be  its 
rebuilding ! 

"  Anna  and  I  watched  the  first  part  of  last  night  —  or, 
rather,  she  watched,  and  I  lay  on  the  lounge  and  got  up 
to  help  her.  In  the  latter  part,  Alfred  took  Anna's 
place.  So  we  watch  and  wait.  Her  mind-wandering 
continues  at  intervals,  and  she  complains  of  her  dulness 
—  so  stupid,  she  says.  Christ,  she  says,  has  been  near 
to  her  all  winter,  and  is  now.  A  little  while  ago,  she 
remarked  that  she  had  been  once,  at  St.  Anthony,  as 
low  as  she  is  now,  and  God  had  restored  her.  So  she 
wanted  us  to  pray  that  God  would  restore  her  yet  again. 
This  forenoon  she  had  a  talk  with  Henry,  Robbie,  and 
Cornelia  separately.  When  Mr.  Warner  came  in,  she 
asked  to  see  him,  and  said  she  hoped  to  have  seen  him 
under  different  circumstances  than  the  present  —  and 
then  commended  Anna  to  his  gentle  care." 

"  Saturday  evening. 

"  One  feels  so  powerless  by  the  side  of  a  sick  loved 
one !  How  we  would  like  to  make  well,  if  we  could  ! 
But  the  fever  continues  to  burn,  and  we  can  only  look 
on.  Then  the  mind  wanders  and  fastens  on  all  kinds  of 
impossible  and  imaginary  things.  We  would  set  that 
right,  but  we  can  not.  Dr.  Taggart  has  just  been  here, 
and  speaks  encouragingly  of  your  mother.  He  thinks 
if  we  can  keep  her  along  until  the  fever  runs  its  course, 


242  MARY    AND   I. 

then  careful  nursing  will  bring  her  up  again.     The  neigh 
bors  are  very  kind  in  offering  us  help  and  sympathy." 

"  Sabbath  morning. 

"  The  mother  is  still  here.  But  the  hopes  Dr.  Taggart 
encouraged  are  not  likely  to  be  realized.  Alfred  and  I 
watched  with  her  until  after  midnight,  and  Mrs.  Bushnell 
and  Anna  the  rest  of  the  night.  As  the  bourbon  contin 
ued  to  be  so  distasteful,  the  doctor  substituted  wine;  but 
that  was  no  more  desirable. 

"  When  told  it  was  the  Sabbath  morning,  she  looked 
up  brightly  and  said,  '  I  think  He  will  come  for  me 
to-day.'  Over  and  over  again,  she  said,  l  He  strengthens 
me.'  Mrs.  Carr  and  Mrs.  Benson  came  in  this  morning 
and  were  very  helpful.  The  doctor  has  been  up  again, 
and  says  he  is  still  hopeful.  So  we  hope  and  watch." 

"  Sabbath  evening. 

"  The  sick  one  continues  much  the  same  as  earlier  in 
the  day.  Mrs.  Blaisdell  and  Mrs.  Merrill  came  to  offer 
their  sympathy.  Dr.  Taggart  came  again  and  desired 
that  she  might  renew  the  whiskey.  This  she  promised 
to  do.  Mr.  Bushnell  has  been  in  and  expressed  his  con 
fidence  in  the  minne-wakan  for  those  who  are  ready  to 
perish." 

"  Monday  morn,  5:30  o'clock. 

"  The  end  seems  to  be  coming  on  apace.  Anna  and 
Alfred  watched  the  first  part  of  the  night,  and  Mrs. 
Wheeler  and  I  have  been  watching  since.  The  difficulty 
of  breathing  has  increased  within  the  last  few  hours,  and 
added  to  it  is  a  rattling  in  the  throat.  Your  mother 
called  my  attention  to  it  about  three  o'clock.  It  seems 


FORTY   YEARS   WITH   THE    SIOUX.  243 

now  as  if  we  can't  do  much  but  smooth  the  way,  which 
we  do  tenderly  —  lovingly." 

"  Seven  o'clock,  A.  M. 

"  The  battle  is  fought,  the  conflict  is  ended,  the  victory 
is  won,  and  that  sooner  than  we  expected.  Your  mother's 
life's  drama  is  closed  —  the  curtain  is  drawn. 

"  About  one  hour  ago  she  called  for  some  tea.  Mrs. 
Wheeler  hasted  and  made  some  fresh.  When  she  had 
taken  that,'  we  gave  her  also  the  medicine  for  the  hour. 
She  then  appeared  to  lie  easily.  I  sat  down  to  write  a 
note  to  Thomas,  who  was  in  the  Freedman's  work  in 
Mississippi.  But  I  had  written  only  a  few  lines  when 
Mrs.  Wheeler  called  me.  She  had  noticed  a  change 
come  on  very  suddenly.  When  I  reached  the  bedside, 
your  mother  could  not  speak,  and  did  not  recognize  me 
by  any  sign.  She  was  passing  through  the  deep  waters, 
and  had  even  then  reached  the  farther  shore. 

"  Mrs.  Wheeler  called  up  the  children,  and  sent  Robbie 
for  Alfred.  But,  before  he  could  come,  the  mother  had 
breathed  her  last  breath.  Quietly,  peacefully,  without  a 
struggle,  only  the  gasping  out  of  life,  she  passed  beyond 
our  reach  of  vision. 

"  Yesterday  she  had  said  to  me,  *  I  have  neglected  the 
flowers.'  I  asked,  c  What  flowers?'  She  replied,  '  The 
immortelles.'  Dear,  good  one,  she  has  gone  to  the 
flower-garden  of  God" 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

1869-1870.  —  Home  Desolate.  —  At  the  General  Assembly.  —  Sum 
mer  Campaign.  —  A.  L.  Riggs.  —  His  Story  of  Early  Life.  — 
Inside  View  of  Missions.  —  Why  Missionaries'  Children  Be 
come  Missionaries.  —  No  Constraint  Laid  on  Them.  —  A.  L. 
Biggs  Visits  the  Missouri  Sioux.  —  Up  the  River.  —  The 
Brules.  —  Cheyenne  and  Grand  River.  —  Starting  for  Fort 
Wadsworth. — Sun  Eclipsed. — Sisseton  Reserve. — Deciding 
to  Build  There. — In  the  Autumn  Assembly.  —  My  Mother's 
Home.  —  Winter  Visit  to  Santee.  —  Julia  La  Framboise. 

As  Abraham,  a  stranger  and  sojourner  in  the  land  of 
the  children  of  Ileth,  bought  of  them  the  cave  of  Mach- 
pelah  wherein  to  bury  Sarah,  so  it  seemed  to  me  that  I 
had  come  to  Bcloit  to  make  a  last  resting-place  for  the 
remains  of  Mary.  The  house  seemed  desolate.  Sooner 
or  later,  it  involved  the  breaking-up  of  the  family.  In 
deed  it  commenced  very  soon.  Robert  went  up  to 
Minnesota  to  spend  a  year  at  Martha's.  In  the  mean 
time,  Anna  had  become  mistress  of  the  home,  and  had 
with  her  Mary  Cooley,  an  invalid  cousin. 

That  year  of  1869  I  was  commissioner  from  the  Da 
kota  Presbytery  to  the  General  Assembly,  which  met  in 
New  York  City.  It  was  an  assembly  of  more  than  ordi 
nary  interest,  as  at  that  meeting,  and  the  one  that  fol 
lowed  in  the  autumn,  the  two  branches  of  the  Presbyte 
rian  Church  North  were  again  united.  During  this  stay 
in  New  York  City  I  was  the  guest  of  Hon.  Wm.  E. 
Dodge.  That  was  quite  a  contrast  to  living  among  the 

244 


FORTY   YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  245 

Dakotas.  But  at  the  close  of  the  assembly  I  hastened 
westward  to  join  Dr.  Williamson  at  St.  Peter.  He 
had  procured  a  small  double  wagon  and  a  pony  team, 
with  which  we  together  should  make  our  summer  cam 
paign.  Having  fitted  ourselves  out,  as  we  always  did, 
with  tent  and  camping  materials,  our  first  objective  point 
was  Sioux  City,  where  we  had  arranged  to  meet  and  take 
in  Alfred  L.  Riggs. 

Since  a  little  previous  to  the  outbreak  in  1862,  he  had 
been  preaching  to  white  people;  first  at  Lockport,  111., 
where  he  was  ordained  and  continued  with  the  church 
five  years,  and  then  for  a  year  at  Centre,  Wis.,  and  now 
at  Woodstock,  111.  But  all  this  time  he  seemed  to  be 
only  waiting  for  the  Dakota  work  to  assume  such  a  shape 
as  to  invite  his  assistance.  For  some  time  he  had  been 
especially  acquainting  himself  with  the  most  approved 
methods  of  education,  that  he  might  fill  a  place  which, 
year  by  year,  was  becoming  more  manifestly  important 
to  be  filled. 

As  in  the  progress  of  modern  missions  a  large  and  in 
creasing  share  of  the  new  recruits  are  the  children  of  mis 
sionaries,  it  will  be  interesting  to  know,  from  one  of 
themselves,  how  they  grow  up  in  and  into  the  Mission 
ary  Kingdom. 

"  My  first  serious  impression  of  life  was  that  I  was 
living  under  a  great  weight  of  something;  and  as  I 
began  to  discern  more  clearly,  I  found  this  weight  to  be. 
the  all-surrounding,  overwhelming  presence  of  heathen 
ism,  and  all  the  instincts  of  my  birth  and  all  the  culture 
of  a  Christian  home  set  me  at  antagonism  to  it  at  every 
point.  The  filthy  savages,  indecently  clad,  lazily  loung 
ing  about  the  stove  of  our  sitting-room,  or  flattening 
their  dirty  noses  on  the  window-pane,  caused  such  a  dis- 


246  MARY    AND    I. 

gust  for  everything  Indian  that  it  took  the  better  thought 
of  many  years  to  overcome  the  repugnance  thus  aroused. 
Without  doubt,  our  mothers  felt  it  all  as  keenly  as  we, 
their  children,  but  they  had  a  sustaining  ambition  for 
souls,  which  we  had  not  yet  gained. 

"  This  feeling  of  disgust  was  often  accompanied  with, 
and  heightened  by,  fear.  The  very  air  seemed  to  breathe 
dangers.  At  times  violence  stalked  abroad  unchallenged, 
and  dark,  lowering  faces  skulked  around.  Even  in  times 
when  we  felt  no  personal  danger,  this  incubus  of  savage 
life  all  around  weighed  on  our  hearts.  Thus  it  was,  day 
and  night.  Even  those  hours  of  twilight,  which  brood 
with  sweet  influences  over  so  many  lives,  bore  to  us  on 
the  evening  air  only  the  weird  cadences  of  the  heathen 
dance  or  the  chill  thrill  of  the  war-whoop. 

"  Yet  our  childhood  was  not  destitute  of  joy.  Babes 
prattle  beside  the  dead.  So,  too,  the  children  of  the  mis 
sion  had  their  plays  like  other  children.  But  it  was  lone 
some  indeed  when  the  missionary  band  was  divided,  to 
occupy  other  stations,  and  the  playmates  were  separated. 
Once  it  was  my  privilege  to  go  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  —  to  the  nearest  station  —  to  have  a  play-spell  of  a 
week,  and  a  happy  week  it  was. 

"  Notwithstanding  our  play-spells,  ours  was  a  serious 
life.  The  serious  earnestness  of  our  parents  in  the  pur 
suit  of  their  work  could  not  fail  to  fall  in  some  degree 
on  the  children.  The  main  purpose  of  Christianizing 
that  people  was  felt  in  everything.  It  was  like  garrison 
life  in  time  of  war.  But  this  seriousness  was  not  asceti- 
cal  or  morose.  Far  from  it.  Those  Christian  missionary 
homes  were  full  of  gladness.  With  all  the  disadvantages 
of  such  a  childhood  was  the  rich  privilege  of  understand 
ing  the  meaning  of  cheerful  earnestness  in  Christian  life. 


FORTY    YEARS   WITH    THE    SIOUX.  247 

Speaking  of  peculiar  privileges,  I  must  say  that  I  do  not 
believe  any  other  homes  can  be  as  precious  as  ours.  It 
is  true  every  one  thinks  his  is  the  best  mother  in  the 
world,  and  she  is  to  him ;  but  I  mean  more  than  this ;  I 
mean  that  our  missionary  homes  are  in  reality  better 
than  others.  And  there  is  reason  for  it.  By  reason  of 
the  surrounding  heathenism,  the  light  and  power  of 
Christianity  is  more  centred  and  confined  in  the  home. 
And  then,  again,  its  power  is  developed  by  its  antagonism 
to  the  darkness  and  wickedness  around  it.  For  either  its 
light  must  ever  shine  clearer,  or  grow  more  dim  until  it 
expires. 

"  Next  to  our  own  home,  we  learned  to  love  the  home 
land  in  '  the  States,7  whence  our  parents  came.  A  long 
ing  desire  to  visit  it  possessed  us.  We  thought  that 
there  we  should  find  a  heaven  on  earth.  This  may  seem  a 
strange  idea ;  but  as  you  think  of  us  engulfed  in  heathen 
ism  and  savage  life,  it  will  not  seem  so  strange.  It  was 
like  living  at  the  bottom  of  a  well,  with  only  one  spot  of 
brightness  overhead.  Of  course,  it  would  be  natural  to 
think  that  upper  world  all  brightness  and  beauty.  Thus 
all  our  glimpses  of  another  life  than  that  of  heathenism 
came  from  'the  States.'  There  all  our  ideas  of  Chris 
tianized  society  were  located.  The  correspondence  of 
our  parents  with  friends  left  behind,  the  pages  of  the 
magazines  and  papers  of  the  monthly  mail,  and  the 
yearly  boxes  of  supplies,  were  the  tangible  tokens  which 
in  our  innocent  minds  awakened  visions  of  the  wonderful 
world  of  civilization  and  culture  in  « the  East.' 

"  These  supplies  were  in  reality*,  perhaps,  very  small 
affairs,  but  we  thought  them  of  fabulous  value.  Indeed 
they  were  everything  to  us.  With  the  opening  of  the 
new  year  the  list  of  purchases  began  to  be  arranged. 


248  MARY    AND    I. 

Each  item  was  carefully  considered,  and  the  wants  of 
each  of  the  family  remembered.  This  was  no  small  task 
when  you  had  to  look  a  year  and  a  half  ahead.  What 
debates  as  to  whether  B  could  get  on  with  one  pair  of 
shoes,  or  must  have  two ;  or  whether  C  would  need  some 
more  gingham  aprons,  or  could  make  the  old  ones  last 
through.  And,  then,  it  was  so  hard  to  remember  mos 
quito  bars  and  straw  hats  in  January ;  but  if  they  were 
forgotten  once,  the  next  January  found  them  first  on  the 
list.  It  was  fun  to  make  up  the  lists,  but  not  so  exhila 
rating  when,  on  summing  up  the  probable  cost,  it  was 
found  to  be  too  much,  and  then  the  cruel  pen  ran  through 
many  of  our  new-born  hopes.  Then  the  letter  went  on 
its  way  to  Boston,  or  maybe  to  Cincinnati,  and  we 
waited  its  substantial  answer.  Sometimes  our  boxes 
went  around  by  lazy  sloops  from  Boston  to  New  Or 
leans  ;  thence  the  laboring  steamboat  bore  them  almost 
the  whole  length  of  the  Father  of  Waters;  then  the  flat- 
boatmen  sweated  and  swore  as  they  poled  them  up  the 
Minnesota  to  where  our  teams  met  them  to  carry  them 
for  another  week  over  the  prairies.  Now  it  was  far  on 
into  rosy  June.  After  such  waiting,  no  wonder  that 
everything  seemed  precious  —  the  very  hoops  of  the 
boxes  and  the  redolent  pine  that  made  them ;  even  the 
wrappers  and  strings  of  the  packages  were  carefully  laid 
away.  And,  thanks  to  the  kind  friends  who  have  cared 
for  this  work  at  our  several  purchasing  depots,  our  wants 
were  generally  capitally  met;  and  yet  sometimes  the 
packer  would  arrange  it  so  that  the  linseed  oil  would 
give  a  new  taste  to  the  dried  apples,  anything  but  appe 
tizing,  or  turn  the  plain  white  of  some  long-desired  book 
into  a  highly  '  tinted'  edition. 

"  When  the  number  of   our  years  got  well  past  the 


FORTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          249 

single  figures,  then  we  went  to  « the  States,'  to  carry  on 
the  education  begun  at  home.  Then  came  the  saddest 
disappointment  of  all  our  lives.  We  found  we  were  yet 
a  good  way  from  heaven.  For  me,  the  last  remnant  of 
this  dream  was  effectually  dispelled  when  I  came  to  teach 
a  Sabbath-school  in  a  back  country-neighborhood,  where 
the  people  were  the  drift-wood  of  Kentucky  and  Egyp 
tian  Illinois.  Thenceforth  the  land  of  the  Dakotas 
seemed  more  the  land  of  promise  to  me.  From  that 
time  the  claims  of  the  work  in  which  my  parents  were 
engaged  grew  upon  my  mind. 

"  Of  late  years  the  children  of  missionaries  have  every 
where  furnished  a  large  portion  of  the  new  reinforce 
ments.  This  is  both  natural  and  strange.  It  is  natural 
that  they  should  desire  to  stay  the  hands  of  their  par 
ents,  and  go  to  reap  what  they  have  sown.  On  the  other 
hand,  they  go  out  in  face  of  all  the  hardships  of  the  work, 
made  vividly  real  to  them  by  the  experience  of  their 
childhood.  They  are  attracted  by  no  romantic  sentiment. 
The  romance  is  for  them  all  worn  off  long  ago.  For  in 
stance,  those  of  us  on  this  field  know  the  noble  red  man 
of  the  poet  to  be  a  myth.  We  know  the  real  savage, 
and  know  him  almost  too  well.  Thus  those  who  follow 
in  the  work  of  their  missionary  fathers  do  not  do  it  with 
out  a  struggle  —  often  fearful.  On  the  one  hand  stands 
the  work,  calling  them  to  lonesome  separation,  and  on 
the  other  the  pleasant  companionship  of  civilized  society. 
But  if  the  word  of  the  Lord  has  come  to  them  to  go  to 
Nineveh,  happy  are  they  if  they  do  not  go  thither  by 
way  of  Joppa. 

"I  have  spoken  of  the  drawbacks  to  entering  the  work, 
but  the  inducements  must  also  be  remembered.  They 
are  greater  than  the  drawbacks.  We  know  them  also 


250  MARY   AND   I. 

better  than  strangers  can.  If  we  have  known  more  of 
the  discouragements  of  the  work,  we  also  know  more  of 
its  hopefulness.  We  know  the  real  savage,  but  we  now 
know  and  fully  believe  in  his  real  humanity  and  salva- 
bility  by  the  power  of  the  cross.  Now,  too,  when  the 
work  is  entered,  the  very  difficulties  which  barred  the 
way  grow  less  or  disappear.  We  find  the  dreaded  isola 
tion  to  be  more  in  appearance  than  reality.  We  here 
are  in  connection  with  the  best  thought  and  sympathy  of 
the  civilized  world,  whether  it  be  in  scholarship,  states 
manship,  or  Christian  society.  And  not  unfrequently  do 
we  have  the  visits  of  friends  and  the  honored  representa 
tives  of  the  churches.  One  may  be  much  more  alone  in 
Chicago  or  New  York. 

"  The  difficulties  of  the  work  in  earlier  years  are  also 
changing.  We  have  a  different  standing  before  the  peo 
ple  among  whom  we  labor.  We  also  have  matured  and 
tested  our  methods  of  operation,  and  can  be  generally 
confident  of  success.  We  have  also  an  ever  increasing 
force  in  the  native  agency  which  adds  strength  and  hope 
fulness  to  the  campaign.  The  people  we  come  to  con 
quer  are  themselves  furnishing  recruits  for  this  war,  so 
that  we,  the  sons  of  the  mission,  stand  among  them  as 
captains  of  the  host,  and  our  fathers  are  as  generals." 

With  such  a  growing-up,  it  would  seem  that  he  was 
attracted  to  the  life-work  of  his  father  and  mother.  And 
yet  our  children  will  all  bear  witness  that  no  special 
influence  was  ever  used  to  draw  them  into  the  mission 
ary  work.  Some  ministers'  sons,  I  understand,  have 
grown  up  under  the  burden  of  the  thought  that  they 
were  expected  to  be  ministers.  It  was  certainly  my  en 
deavor  not  to  impose  any  such  burden  on  my  boys.  But 


FORTY    YEAKS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  251 

we  certainly  did  desire  —  and  our  desire  was  not  con 
cealed —  that  all  our  children  should  develop  into  the 
most  noble  and  useful  lives,  prepared  to  occupy  any  posi 
tion  to  which  they  might  be  called.  Accordingly,  when 
a  boy,  while  pursuing  his  education,  has  shown  a  disposi 
tion  "  to  knock  off,"  I  have  used  what  influence  I  had  to 
induce  him  to  persevere.  But,  beyond  this,  it  has  been 
my  desire  that  each  one  should,  under  the  divine  guid 
ance,  choose,  as  is  their  right  to  do,  what  shall  be  their 
line  of  work  in  life.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  but  just  to 
myself,  as  well  as  to  them,  to  say  that  it  gives  me  great 
joy  now,  in  my  old  age,  to  see  so  many  of  Mary's  children 
making  the  life-work  of  their  father  and  mother  their  own. 

This  visit  of  Alfred  to  the  Saritee  and  Yankton  agen 
cies  was  made  for  the  purpose  of  looking  over  the  field, 
and  forming  an  intelligent  judgment  as  to  whether  the 
way  was  open  and  the  time  had  come  to  commence  some 
higher  educational  work  among  the  Dakotas.  The  place 
for  such  an  effort  was  evidently  the  Santee  agency.  And 
John  P.  Williamson,  who  had  so  long  and  so  well  carried 
on  the  mission  work  among  the  Santees,  had  for  several 
years  past  been  more  and  more  attracted  to  the  Yank- 
tons,  where  there  was  an  open  door ;  and  to  the  Yankton 
agency  he  had  removed  his  family,  in  the  early  spring, 
before  our  visit.  So  the  hand  of  God  had  shaped  the 
work.  It  required  only  that  we  recognize  his  hand,  and 
put  ourselves  in  accord  with  the  manifestations  of  his 
will.  After  a  few  weeks,  Alfred  returned  to  his  people 
in  Woodstock,  and  made  his  arrangements  to  close  his 
labors  there  in  the  following  winter,  when  he  accepted 
an  appointment  from  the  American  Board  to  take  charge 
of  its  work  at  the  Santee  agency. 


252  MAKY    AND    I. 

Our  summer  campaign  now  commenced.  The  Will 
iamsons,  father  and  son,  with  Titus,  one  of  the  Santee 
pastors,  and  myself,  proceeded  up  the  Missouri.  We 
made  a  little  stop,  as  we  had  done  in  former  years,  with 
the  Sechangoos,  or  Brules,  near  Fort  Thompson,  preach 
ing  to  them  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  Some  interest  was  ap 
parent.  At  least,  a  superstitious  reverence  for  the  name 
that  is  above  every  name  was  manifest.  "  What  is  the 
name  ? "  one  asked.  "  I  have  forgotten  it."  And  we 
again  told  them  of  Jesus. 

Our  next  point  was  the  Cheyenne  agency,  near  Fort 
Sully,  a  hundred  miles  above  Fort  Thompson,  at  Crow 
Creek.  There  we  spent  a  week,  and  met  the  Indians  in 
their  council  house.  Our  efforts  were  in  the  line  of 
sowing  seed,  much  of  which  fell  by  the  way-side  or  on 
the  stony  places.  And  then  we  passed  on  another  hun 
dred  miles,  to  the  agency  at  the  mouth  of  Grand  River, 
where  were  gathered  a  large  number  of  Yanktonais,  as 
well  as  Teetons.  This  agency  is  now  located  farther  up 
the  river,  and  is  called  Standing  Rock.  Among  these 
people  we  found  some  who  desired  instruction,  but  the 
more  part  did  not  want  to  hear.  Our  attempt  to  gather 
them  to  a  Sabbath  meeting  seemed  quite  likely  to  fail. 
But  there  had  been  a  thunder  storm  in  the  early  morning, 
and  out  a  few  miles,  on  a  hill-top,  a  prominent  Dakota 
man  was  struck  down  by  the  lightning.  He  was  brought 
into  the  agency,  and  before  his  burial,  at  the  close  of 
the  day,  we  had  a  large  company  of  men  and  women  to 
listen  to  the  divine  words  of  Jesus,  who  is  the  Resur 
rection  and  the  Life.  It  was  an  impressive  occasion, 
and  it  was  said  by  white  men  that  many  of  those  Indians 
listened  that  day  for  the  first  time  to  Christian  song 
and  Christian  prayer.  But  that  agency  has  since  passed 


FORTY  YEAKS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          253 

into  the  hands  of  the  Catholics,  and  David,  one  of  our 
native  preachers,  who  visited  there  recently,  was  not 
permitted  to  remain. 

At  this  point  —  Grand  River  —  our  company  separated. 
John  P.  Williamson  and  Titus  returned  down  the  Mis 
souri,  and  Dr.  Williamson  and  I  took  a  young  man, 
Blue  Bird  by  name,  and  crossed  over  to  Fort  Wads- 
worth.  On  Saturday  we  traveled  up  the  Missouri  about 
thirty  miles,  where  we  spent  the  Sabbath,  and  where  we 
were  joined  by  a  Dakota  man  who  was  familiar  with  the 
country  across  to  the  James  River,  and  who  could  find 
water  for  us  in  that  "dry  and  thirsty  land."  As  we 
journeyed  that  Saturday  afternoon,  the  day  grew  dark, 
the  sun  ceased  to  shine,  our  horses  wanted  to  stop  in 
the  road.  It  was  a  weird,  unnatural  darkness  —  an 
eclipse  of  the  sun.  We  stopped  and  watched  its  prog 
ress.  For  about  five  minutes  the  eclipse  was  annular  — 
only  a  little  rim  of  light  gleamed  forth.  The  moon 
seemed  to  have  a  cut  in  one  side,  appearing  much  like 
a  thick  cheese  from  which  a  very  thin  slice  had  been  cut 
out.  We  all  noted  this  singular  appearance.  The 
Dakotas  on  the  Missouri  represent  that  year  by  the 
symbol  of  a  Hack  sun  with  stars  shining  above  it. 

When  we  reached  the  Sisseton  reservation,  we  held 
our  usual  camp-meeting  again  at  Dry  Wood  Lake,  regu 
lating  and  confirming  the  churches,  and  receiving  quite 
a  number  of  additions,  though  not  so  many  as  in  the 
year  previous.  The  place  for  the  Sisseton  agency  had 
been  selected,  some  log  buildings  erected,  and  the  agent, 
Dr.  Jared  W.  Daniels,  with  his  family,  was  on  the 
ground.  The  time  seemed  to  have  come  when,  to  secure 
the  fruits  of  the  harvest,  some  more  permanent  occupa 
tion  should  be  made  in  the  reservation.  Mary  was  gone 


254  MARY   AND   1. 

up  higher.  The  boys,  for  whose  sakes,  mainly,  we  had 
made  a  home  in  Beloit,  were  no  longer  in  college. 
Thomas  had  graduated,  and  spent  a  year  in  teaching 
freedmen  in  Mississippi,  and  was  now  in  the  Chicago 
Theological  Seminary ;  while  Henry  had  commenced  to 
seek  his  fortune  in  other  employment.  Without  appar 
ent  detriment,  I  could  break  up  housekeeping  in  Beloit, 
and  build  at  Sisseton.  The  plan  was  formed  during 
this  visit,  and  talked  over  with  Dr.  Williamson  and 
Agent  Daniels.  God  willing,  and  the  Prudential  Com 
mittee  at  Boston  approving,  it  was  to  be  carried  into 
effect  the  next  spring. 

And  so  I  returned  to  my  home  in  Beloit,  and  went  on 
to  attend  the  meeting  of  the  two  General  Assemblies  at 
Pittsburg,  where  their  union  became  an  accomplished 
fact.  At  the  close  of  this  meeting,  I  spent  a  couple  of 
weeks  in  visiting  friends  in  Fayette  County,  Pa.,  and  the 
old  stone  church  of  Dunlap's  Creek,  which  had  been 
the  church-home  of  my  mother  when  as  yet  she  was 
unmarried. 

For  several  winters  preceding  this  I  had  been  working 
on  translations  of  the  Book  of  Psalms  and  Ecclesiastes 
and  Isaiah.  They  were  printed  in  1871.  But  this 
winter  of  1869-70  was  mostly  spent  with  the  Santees. 
Mr.  Williamson  had  left  that  place  and  gone  to  the 
Yankton  agency,  where  he  has  since  continued  with 
great  prosperity  in  the  missionary  work.  And  so  there 
came  to  me  a  pressing  invitation  from  Mrs.  Mary  Frances 
Pond  and  Miss  Julia  La  Framboise  to  come  out  and  help 
them  that  winter. 

Julia  La  Framboise  was  the  teacher  of  the  mission- 
school  at  Santee.  She  was  born  of  a  Dakota  mother, 


FORTY  YEAES  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          255 

and  her  father  always  claimed  that  he  had  Indian  blood 
mixed  with  his  French.  Julia  was  a  noble  Christian 
woman,  who  had  been  trained  up  in  the  mission  families, 
completing  her  education  at  Miss  Sill's  Seminary,  in 
Rockford,  111.  I  found  them  all  actively  engaged  in 
carrying  forward  mission  work.  But  we  conceived 
more  might  be  done  to  bring  children  into  the  school 
and  men  and  women  to  the  church.  Accordingly,  I 
called  together  the  pastors  and  elders  of  the  church,  and 
engaged  them  to  enter  upon  a  system  of  thorough  church 
visitation,  which  had  the  effect  of  greatly  increasing  the 
numbers  in  attendance  on  both  the  school  and  the 
church. 

Even  then,  as  it  afterward  appeared,  Julia  was  enter 
ing  upon  the  incipient  stages  of  pulmonary  consumption. 
She  was  not  careful  of  herself.  After  teaching  school 
until  one  o'clock,  she  was  ever  ready  to  go  with  the 
agent's  daughters  to  interpret  for  them  in  the  case  of 
some  sick  person,  or  to  relieve  the  wants  of  the  poor. 
Before  I  left,  in  March,  her  cough  had  become  alarming. 
And  so  it  increased.  The  second  summer  after  this,  she 
was  obliged  to  stop  work,  and  simply  wait  for  the  coming 
of  the  messenger  that  called  her  to  the  Father's  house 
above. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

1870-1871.  —  Beloit  Home  Broken  Up.  —Building  on  the  Sisseton 
Reserve.  —  Difficulties  and  Cost.  —  Correspondence  with  Wash 
ington.  —  Order  to  Suspend  Work.  —  Disregarding  the  Taboo. 
—  Anna  Sick  at  Beloit.  —  Assurance.  —  Martha  Goes  in 
Anna's  Place.  —  The  Dakota  Churches.  —  Lac-qui-parle,  As 
cension.  —  John  B.  Renville.  —  Daniel  Renville.  —  Houses  of 
Worship.  —  Eight  Churches.  —The  "Word  Carrier."  —An 
nual  Meeting  on  the  Big  Sioux.  —  Homestead  Colony.  —  How 
it  Came  about.  —  Joseph  Iron  Old  Man.  —  Perished  in  a  Snow 
Storm.  —  The  Dakota  Mission  Divides.  — Reasons  Therefor. 

THE  spring  of  1870  brought  with  it  a  breaking-up  of 
the  Beloit  home.  Some  months  before  Mary's  death,  she 
had  invited  to  our  house  an  invalid  niece,  the  daughter 
of  her  older  sister,  Mrs.  Lucretia  Cooley.  A  dear,  good 
girl  Mary  Cooley  was.  She  had  during  the  war  acted  as 
nurse,  in  the  service  of  the  Christian  Commission.  But 
her  health  failed.  It  was  hoped  that  a  year  in  the  West 
might  build  her  up.  After  her  aunt  had  gone  from  us, 
Mary  Cooley  remained  with  us.  But  the  malady  in 
creased  ;  and  this  spring  her  brother  Allan  came  and  took 
her  back  to  Massachusetts.  And  now,  only  a  little  while 
ago,  we  heard  of  her  release  in  California,  whither  the 
family  had  removed.  The  good  Lord  had  compassion 
upon  her,  and  took  her  to  a  land  where  no  one  says,  "  I 
am  sick." 

Then  the  house  was  rented.  The  household  goods 
and  household  gods  were  scattered,  the  major  part  being 
taken  up  into  the  Indian  country.  Anna  would  spend 

256 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  257 

the  summer  with  friends  in  Beloit,  and  Cornelia,  the 
youngest,  I  took  up  to  Minnesota,  and  left  with  Martha 
on  the  frontier. 

My  plan  was  to  put  up  two  buildings,  a  dwelling-house 
and  a  school-house,  for  the  erection  of  which  the  com 
mittee  at  Boston  had  appropriated  $2800.  That  may 
seem  quite  an  amount ;  but  the  materials  had  to  be  trans 
ported  from  Minneapolis  and  the  Red  River  of  the  North. 
What  I  purchased  at  Minneapolis  was  carried  by  rail  and 
steamboat  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  There  remained 
one  hundred  and  thirty,  over  which  the  lumber  was  hauled 
in  wagons  in  the  month  of  June,  when  the  roads  were 
bad  and  the  streams  swimming.  And  so  the  cost  was 
very  great, — dressed  flooring  coining  up  to  $75  per  1000 
feet,  dressed  siding  $65,  shingles  about  $15  per  1000,  and 
common  lumber  $60  a  thousand  feet. 

When  the  materials  were  on  the  ground,  but  little 
money  was  left  for  their  erection.  But,  with  one  carpen 
ter  and  two  or  three  young  men  to  assist,  I  pushed  for 
ward  the  work,  and  by  the  middle  of  September  the 
houses  were  up,  and  ready  to  be  occupied,  though  in  an 
unfinished  state. 

During  this  time  there  were  some  things  transpired 
which  deserve  to  be  noticed. 

Before  commencing  to  build,  I  had  received  the  written 
approval  of  the  agent.  In  regard  to  the  locality  we  dif 
fered.  He  wished  me  to  build  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  the  agency,  while  I,  for  very  good  reasons,  selected  a 
place  nearly  two  miles  away.  But  that,  I  think,  could 
have  made  no  difference  in  his  feeling  toward  the  enter 
prise.  However,  soon  after  I  commenced,  I  was  visited 
by  Gabriel  Renville,  who  was  recognized  as  the  head  man 
on  the  reservation.  He  did  not  forbid  my  proceeding, 


258  MAEY    AND    I. 

but  wanted  to  know  whether  I  had  authority  to  do  so.  I 
replied  that  I  had  the  approval  of  Agent  Daniels,  which 
I  regarded  as  sufficient.  When  I  reported  this  to  Mr. 
Daniels,  he  advised  me  to  write  to  the  Commissioner  of 
Indian  Affairs,  and  obtain  a  permit,  which,  he  said,  might 
save  me  trouble. 

Accordingly,  I  wrote  immediately  to  the  Department 
of  the  Interior,  stating  the  life-long  connection  we  had 
had  with  these  Indians,  and  the  work  we  had  done  among 
them,  and  that  now  I  was  authorized  by  the  A.  B.  C.  F. 
M.  to  erect  mission  buildings  among  them,  and  asking 
that  our  plan  be  approved. 

After  three  or  four  weeks,  when  I  was  in  the  very  mid 
dle  of  my  work  of  building,  there  came  an  order  from 
Washington  that  I  should  suspend  operations  until  they 
would  settle  the  question  to  what  religious  denomination 
that  part  of  the  field  should  be  assigned.  That  subject 
was  then  under  advisement,  they  said. 

Should  I  obey  ?  If  I  did  so,  much  additional  expense 
would  be  incurred,  and  my  summer's  work,  as  planned, 
would  be  a  failure.  Really  no  question  could  be  raised 
about  it.  The  American  Board  had  been  doing  mission 
ary  work  among  those  Indians  for  a  third  of  a  century, 
and  no  other  denomination  or  missionary  board  pretended 
to  have  any  claim  on  the  field.  It  was  unreasonable, 
under  the  circumstances,  that  we  should  be  asked  to  sus 
pend,  and  thus  suffer  harm  and  loss.  So  I  placed  my 
letter  safely,  away  and  went  on  with  my  work.  No  human 
bein^  there  knew  that  I  had  received  such  a  command. 

O 

By  the  return  mail  I  wrote  to  Secretary  Treat,  rehears 
ing  the  whole  case,  and  asking  him,  without  delay,  to 
write  to  the  authorities  at  Washington.  I  told  him  I  had 
concluded  to  disregard  the  taboo,  and  would  not  in  con- 


FORTY   YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  259 

sequence  thereof  drive  a  nail  the  less.  When  the  summer 
months  were  passed,  and  my  houses  were  both  up,  I 
received  a  letter  from  the  commissioner  commending  my 
work,  and  telling  me  to  go  forward. 

In  the  latter  end  of  August  there  came  to  me  a  letter, 
written  in  a  strange  hand,  saying  that  Anna  was  lying 
sick  at  Mr.  Carr's,  of  typhoid  fever.  The  intention  of  the 
letter  evidently  was  not  to  greatly  alarm  me,  but  it  con 
veyed  the  idea  that  she  was  very  sick,  and  the  result  was 
doubtful.  Ten  or  twelve  days  had  passed  since  it  was 
written.  My  affairs  were  not  then  in  a  condition  to  be 
left  without  much  damage,  and  so  I  determined  to  await 
the  coming  of  another  mail.  When  I  heard  again,  a 
week  later,  there  was  no  decided  change  for  the  better. 
So  the  letter  read.  But  in  the  meantime  this  word  had 
come  to  me  —  "  This  sickness  is  not  unto  death,  but  for 
the  glory  of  God."  It  came  to  me  like  a  revelation.  I 
seemed  to  know  it.  It  quieted  my  alarm.  All  anxiety 
was  not  taken  away,  but  my  days  passed  in  comparatively 
quiet  trust.  About  the  middle  of  September  I  started 
down  with  my  own  team,  and,  on  reaching  St.  Peter  and 
Mankato,  I  received  letters  from  Anna  written  with  her 
own  hand.  She  had  come  up  gradually,  but  a  couple  of 
months  passed  before  she  was  strong. 

Before  I  commenced  building  at  Good  Will,  which  was 
the  name  we  gave  to  our  new  station,  the  understanding 
was  that  Anna  would  be  married  in  the  coming  autumn, 
and  she  and  her  husband  would  take  charge  of  the  mis 
sion  work  there.  Anna  seemed  to  have  grown  up  into 
the  idea  that  her  life-work  was  to  be  with  the  Dakotas. 
But  it  was  otherwise  ordered.  In  the  October  following, 
when  we  all  again  met  in  Beloit,  she  was  married  to  H. 
I£.  Warner,  who  had  lost  an  arm  in  the  War  of  the 


260  MARY    AND    I. 

Rebellion,  and    they   have   since   made    their    home   in 
Iowa. 

Martha  Taylor  Riggs  had  been  married  to  Wyllys  K. 
Morris,  in  December,  1866.  For  a  time  they  made  their 
home  in  Mankato,  Minn.,  and  then  removed  to  a  farm 
twenty  miles  from  town.  Life  on  the  extreme  frontier 
they  found  filled  with  privations  and  hardships,  and  so 
were  quite  willing  to  accept  the  new  place ;  and  before 
the  winter  set  in  they  were  removed  to  Good  Will. 
Robert,  who  had  gone  up  after  his  mother's  death,  and 
spent  a  year  with  Martha  at  Sterling,  Minn.,  returned 
to  Beloit,  and  entered  the  preparatory  department  of  the 
college.  Cornelia  went  with  us  to  Good  Will,  and  re 
mained  two  years. 

The  home  was  again  in  Dakota  land.  We  at  once 
opened  a  school,  which  has  since  been  taught  almost  en 
tirely  by  W.  K.  Morris.*  The  native  churches  needed  a 
good  deal  of  attention.  At  Lac-qui-parle  a  number  of 
families  had  stopped  and  taken  claims.  There  a  church 
was  organized  of  about  forty  members,  which  for  two  or 
three  years  was  in  the  charge  of  Rev.  John  B.  Renville. 
But  about  this  time  Mr.  Renville  removed  to  the  reser 
vation,  and  from  that  time  the  Dakota  settlement  grad 
ually  diminished,  until  all  had  removed,  and  the  Lac- 
qui-parle  church  was  absorbed  by  those  on  the  reserve. 

Ascension,  or  lyakaptape,  so  named  from  its  having 
been  from  time  immemorial  the  place  where  the  Coteau 
was  ascended  by  the  Dakotas  on  their  way  westward,  was 
the  district  in  which  a  number  of  the  Renville  families 
took  claims.  Daniel  Renville,  one  of  our  licentiates,  had 

*  This  school  has  been  much  enlarged  since  1877. 


FORTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          261 

been  preaching  to  the  church  gathered  there.  But  it  was 
understood  all  along  that  John  B.  Renville  was  to  be 
their  pastor.  And  so  it  came  about,  as  he  now  trans 
ferred  his  home  to  that  settlement. 

In  the  spring  of  1863,  Mr.  Renville  had  purchased  a 
little  house  in  St.  Anthony,  where  they  made  their  home 
for  several  years,  Mrs.  Renville  teaching  a  school  of  white 
children  for  a  part  of  the  time.  Removing  from  there, 
they  pre-empted  a  piece  of  land  on  Beaver  Creek.  Dur 
ing  these  years  they  had  in  their  family  from  four  to  six 
half-breed  or  Dakota  children,  whom  they  taught  English 
very  successfully,  and  for  the  most  part  maintained  them 
out  of  their  own  scanty  means.  While  living  in  St. 
Anthony,  Mr.  Renville  had  translated  "Precept  Upon 
Precept,"  which  was  printed  in  Boston,  and  became 
thenceforth  one  of  our  Dakota  school-books. 

As  Mr.  Daniel  Renville  was  now  released  from  labor  at 
Ascension,  I  proposed  his  name  to  the  Good  Will  church, 
and  advised  them  to  elect  him  to  be  their  religious 
teacher.  But  when  the  election  took  place  they  all  voted 
for  me.  I  thanked  them  for  the  honor  they  did  me,  and 
told  them  that  it  could  not  be.  Our  plan  of  missionary 
work  was  changed.  Henceforth  the  preaching  and  pas 
toral  work  were  to  be  done  almost  exclusively  by  men 
from  among  themselves.  It  was  better  for  them  that  it 
should  be  so,  for  only  in  that  way  would  they  learn  to 
support  their  own  Gospel.  We  missionaries  had  never 
asked  them  to  contribute  anything  toward  our  support. 
It  was  manifestly  incongruous  that  we  should  do  so.  And 
yet  they  were  so  far  advanced  in  the  knowledge  of  Chris 
tian  duties  that  they  ought  to  assume  the  burden  of  con 
tributing  to  the  support  of  their  own  religious  teachers. 
It  would  be  a  means  of  grace  to  them.  Moreover,  a  man_ 


262  MARY    AND    I. 

who  spoke  the  language  natively  had  great  advantage 
over  us,  both  in  preaching  and  pastoral  work. 

When  I  had  made  this  speech  to  them,  they  went 
again  into  an  election,  and  chose  Daniel  Renville  to  be 
their  pastor.  He  was  soon  afterward  ordained  and 
installed  by  the  Dakota  Presbytery,  and  continued  with 
the  Good  Will  church  about  six  years.  Previous  to  this 
time,  the  original  Dakota  Presbytery  had  been  divided 
into  the  Mankato  and  Dakota,  the  latter  of  which  was 
again  confined  to  the  Dakota  tield,  as  it  had  been  when 
first  formed  in  1845. 

At  this  time  Solomon  was  the  pastor  of  the  Long  Hol 
low  church,  and  Louis  was  stated  supply  at  Fort  Wads- 
worth,  or  Kettle  Lakes,  and  Thomas  Good  a  licentiate 
preacher  at  Buffalo  Lake.  Some  time  after  this  the 
Mayasan  church  was  organized,  and  Louis  called  to  take 
charge  of  it,  David  Gray  Cloud  coming  into  his  place  at 
Fort  Wadsworth. 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  had 
set  on  foot  their  Million  Thank  Offering  effort,  which  was 
available  for  poor  churches  in  erecting  houses  of  worship. 
By  means  of  this  outside  help,  the  Ascension  church  and 
the  Long  Hollow  church,  as  well  as  the  Homestead  Set 
tlement  church  on  the  Big  Sioux,  were  enabled  to  build 
houses  —  two  of  them  of  logs.  The  building  at  Long 
Hollow  continues  to  be  occupied  by  the  church,  while  the 
other  two  houses  have  given  place  to  larger  and  better 
frame  buildings. 

In  the  spring  of  1871  our  Dakota  church  organizations 
were  eight,  viz. :  The  Pilgrim  Church,  at  Santee,  with 
267  members,  Rev.  Artemas  Ehnamane  and  Rev.  Titus 
Ichadooze  pastors ;  The  Flandreau  or  River  Bend  church, 
on  the  Big  Sioux,  with  107  members,  Joseph  Iron-old- 


FOKTY    YEAES    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  263 

man  pastor  elect;  the  Lac-qui-parle  church,  with  41 
members,  now  without  a  pastor ;  the  Ascension  church, 
on  the  Sisseton  reservation,  with  69  members,  Rev. 
John  B.  Renville  pastor ;  the  Dry  Wood  Lake  or  Good 
Will  church,  with  42  members,  Rev.  Daniel  Renville 
pastor ;  the  Long  Hollow  church,  with  80  members,  Rev. 
Solomon  Toonkan-shaecheya  pastor ;  the  Kettle  Lakes  or 
Fort  Wadsworth  church,  with  38  members,  Rev.  Louis 
Mazawakinyanna  stated  supply ;  and  the  recently  organ 
ized  church  at  Yankton  agency,  with  19  members,  in 
charge  of  Rev.  John  P.  Williamson. 

In  the  month  of  May  of  this  year,  the  first  number  of 
the  lapi  Oaye  appeared.  It  was  a  very  modest  little 
sheet  of  four  pages,  eight  by  ten  inches,  and  altogether 
in  the  Dakota  language,  with  the  motto,  "  Taku  washta 
okiya,  taku  shecha  kepajin,"  which,  being  interpreted, 
would  read,  "  To  help  what  is  good,  to  oppose  what  is 
bad."  Rev.  John  P.  Williamson,  who  had  the  sole  charge 
of  it  for  the  first  twelve  numbers,  in  his  first  Dakota  edi 
torial,  thus  accounts  for  its  origin  :  "  For  three  years  I  have 
prepared  a  little  tract  at  New  Year,  which  Mr.  E.  R. 
Pond  printed,  and  I  distributed  gratuitously  to  all  who 
could  read  Dakota.  And  many  persons  liked  it,  and 
some  said,  '  If  we  had  a  newspaper,  we  would  pay  for  it.' 
I  have  trusted  to  the  truth  of  this  saying,  and  so  this 
winter  have  been  preparing  to  print  one.  But  I  have 
found  many  obstacles  in  the  way,  and  have  not  gotten 
out  the  first  number  until  now."  As  it  was  to  be  the 
means  of  conveying  the  thoughts  and  speech  of  one  per 
son  to  another,  it  was  proper,  he  said,  to  call  it  lapi 
Oaye,  or  "Word  Carrier."  The  subscription  price  was 
placed  at  fifty  cents  a  year.  This  was  not  increased  after 


264  MARY    AND    I. 

the  paper  was  doubled  in  size,  as  it  was  the  first  of  Jan 
uary,  1873,  at  the  commencement  of  the  second  volume. 
When  the  change  was  made,  I  was  taken  in  as  associate 
editor,  and  hencefortli  about  one-third  of  the  letter-press 
was  to  be  in  the  English  language.  By  this  means  we 
could  communicate  missionary  intelligence  to  white  peo 
ple,  and  thus  secure  their  aid  in  supporting  the  paper,  as 
well  as  extend  the  interest  in  our  work.  And,  as  an 
attraction  to  the  Dakotas,  a  full-page  picture  has  been 
generally  added. 

In  starting  the  paper,  the  main  object  proposed  was 
to  stimulate  education  among  the  Dakotas,  so  that  we 
were  not  disappointed  to  find  that,  in  addition  to  all  that 
came  in  from  subscriptions,  several  hundred  dollars  were 
required  from  the  missionary  funds  to  square  up  the 
year.  But  we  lived  in  hope,  and  do  so  still,  that  the 
time  will  come  when  the  enterprise  will  be  self-support 
ing.  It  has  proved  itself  to  be  an  exceedingly  important 
assistant  in  our  missionary  work,  which  we  can  not  afford 
to  let  die. 

With  the  homesteaders  on  the  Bio:  Sioux,  on  the  23d 

C? 

of  June,  1871,  we  held  our  first  general  conference  of  the 
Dakota  churches.*  From  the  Sisseton  Agency  there 
went  down  John  B.  Renville,  Daniel  Renville,  and 
Solomon,  of  the  pastors,  with  several  elders  and  myself. 
Dr.  Williamson  came  up  from  St.  Peter;  and  John  P. 
Williamson,  A.  L.  Riggs,  and  Arternas  Ehnarnane,  and 
others,  came  over  from  the  Missouri  River.  Year  by 
year,  from  that  time  on,  we  have  continued  to  hold 
these  meetings,  and  they  have  constantly  increased  in 

*  This  was  preliminary  to  the  regularly  organized  conference 
which  met  the  next  year. 


FORTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          265 

interest  and  importance.  On  this  first  occasion,  four  or 
five  days  were  spent,  and  religious  meetings  held  each 
day.  The  circumstances  by  which  we  were  surrounded 
intensified  the  interest.  As  yet  there  was  no  church  or 
school-house  in  which  we  could  assemble,  and  our  meet 
ings  were  held  out-of-doors,  or  under  a  booth  in  connec 
tion  with  Mr.  All  Iron's  cabin. 

This  colony  of  more  than  one  hundred  church  members 
had  located  near  the  eastern  line  of  Dakota  Territory,  in 
the  beautiful  and  fertile  valley  of  the  Big  Sioux  River. 
Their  settlement  lay  along  that  stream  for  twenty-five  or 
thirty  miles,  its  centre  being  about  forty  miles  above  the 
thriving  town  of  Sioux  Falls. 

The  most  of  these  men  were  in  1862  engaged  in  the 
Sioux  outbreak  in  Minnesota.  For  three  years  they 
were  held  in  military  prisons.  Meanwhile,  their  families 
and  the  remnants  of  their  tribe  had  been  deported  to  the 
Missouri  River;  so  that  when  they  found  themselves 
together  again,  it  was  at  Niobrara,  Neb.,  or  soon 
afterward  at  the  newly  established  Santee  agency  a  few 
miles  below. 

What  impulse  stirred  them  up  to  break  away  from 
their  own  tribe,  to  which  they  had  but  just  returned,  and 
try  the  hard  work  of  making  a  home  among  coldly  dis 
posed  if  not  hostile  whites  ?  What  made  them  leave  all 
their  old  traditional  ties  and  relationships  and  go  forth  as 
strangers  and  wanderers  ?  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
they  left  behind  them  the  food  which  the  government 
issued  weekly  on  the  agency,  to  seek  a  very  precarious 
living  by  farming,  for  which  they  had  neither  tools  nor 
teams.  They  also  gave  up  the  advantage  of  the  yearly 
issue  of  clothing,  and  the  prospect  of  such  considerable 
gifts  of  horses,  oxen,  cows,  wagons,  and  ploughs,  as  were 


266  MARY    AND   I. 

distributed  occasionally  on  the  agency.  More  than  this : 
those  who  had  already  received  such  gifts  from  the 
United  States  Indian  Civilization  Fund  had  to  leave  all 
behind,  though  they  went  out  for  the  very  purpose  of 
seeking  a  higher  civilization.  They  went  forth  in  the 
face,  moreover,  of  great  opposition  and  derision  from  the 
chiefs  of  their  tribe.  The  United  States  Indian  agent 
was  also  against  them.  Whence,  then,  did  they  have  the 
strength  of  purpose  which  enabled  them  to  face  all  this 
opposition,  brave  all  these  dangers? 

The  germs  of  this  movement  are  only  to  be  found  in 
the  resolves  for  a  new  life  made  by  these  men  when  in 
prison  !  There  all  were  nominally,  and  the  larger  part 
were  really,  converted  to  Christ.  All  of  them  in  some 
sense  experienced  a  conversion  of  thought  and  purpose. 
There  they  agreed  to  abolish  all  the  old  tribal  arrange 
ments  and  customs.  Old  things  were  to  be  done  away, 
and  all  things  were  to  become  new.  And  as  they  had 
been  electing  their  church  officers,  so  they  would  elect 
the  necessary  civil  officers. 

But  when  they  came  to  their  people  they  found  the  old 
Indian  system  in  full  power,  backed  by  the  authority  of 
the  United  States.  Of  the  old  chiefs  who  ruled  them  in 
Minnesota,  Little  Crow  and  Little  Six,  the  leaders  of  the 
rebellion,  were  dead ;  but  the  others,  who  had  been  kept 
out  of  active  participation,  not  by  their  loyalty  to  the 
United  States,  but  by  their  jealousy  of  these  leaders,  had 
saved  their  necks  and  were  again  in  power.  A  few  had 
been  appointed  to  vacancies  by  the  United  States  agent, 
and  the  ring  was  complete.  And  our  friends  were  com 
manded  at  once  to  fall  in  under  the  old  chiefs  before  they 
could  receive  any  rations.  They  must  be  Indians  or 
starve !  Nothing  was  to  be  hoped  for  from  within  the 


POETY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  267 

tribe,  nor  from  Washington.  The  Indian  principle  was 
regnant  there  also.  Nothing  was  left  to  them  but  to  seek 
some  other  land.  One  said:  "  I  could  not  bear  to  have 
my  children  grow  up  nothing  but  Indians";  so  they  all 
felt. 

They  made  their  hegira  in  March,  1869.  In  this  re 
gion  this  is  the  worst  month  in  the  year,  but  they  had  to 
take  advantage  of  the  absence  of  their  agent  and  the 
chiefs  at  Washington.  Twenty-five  families  went  in  this 
company.  A  few  had  ponies,  but  they  mostly  took  their 
way  on  foot,  packing  their  goods  and  children,  one  hun 
dred  and  thirty  miles  over  the  Dakota  prairies.  About 
midway  a  fearful  snow-storm  burst  upon  them.  They 
lost  their  way,  and  one  woman  froze  to  death.  The  next 
autumn  fifteen  other  families  joined  them,  and  twenty 
more  followed  the  year  after.  Even  one  of  the  chiefs, 
finding  the  movement  likely  to  succeed,  left  his  chieftain 
ship  and  its  emoluments  to  join  them.  He  thought  it 
more  to  be  a  man  than  to  be  a  chief. 

Existence  was  a  hard  struggle  for  several  years;  for 
these  Indians  had  neither  ploughs  nor  working  teams. 
But  they  exchanged  work  with  their  white  neighbors,  and 
so  had  a  little  "  breaking "  done.  And  in  the  fall  and 
early  spring  they  went  trapping,  and  by  this  means  raised 
:i  little  money  to  pay  entry  fees  on  their  lands  and  buy 
their  clothes.  On  one  of  these  hunting  expeditions,  Iron 
Old  Man,  the  acting  pastor  of  their  church  and  a  leader 
in  the  colony,  was  overtaken,  while  chasing  elk,  by  one  of 
the  Dakota  "  blizzards,"  and  he  and  his  companion  in  the 
hunt  perished  in  the  snow-drifts. 

Joseph  Iron  Old  Man  was  not  an  old  man,  notwith 
standing  his  name,  but  a  man  in  middle  life.  He  had 
been  a  Hoonkayape  or  elder  in  the  prison,  re-elected  on 


268  MARY    AtfD    I. 

the  consolidation  of  the  Pilgrim  Church  in  Nebraska,  and 
thus  elected  to  the  same  office  a  third  time  in  the  River 
Bend  Church  on  the  Big  Sioux.  After  this,  when  the 
church  met  to  elect  a  religious  teacher,  he  was  chosen 
almost  unanimously.  It  was  expected  that  the  Presby 
tery  would  have  confirmed  the  action  of  the  church  at 
this  gathering  in  June.  But  this  was  not  to  be.  On  the 
seventh  day  of  April,  when  it  was  bright  and  warm,  he  and 
another  Dakota  man,  as  they  were  out  hunting,  came 
upon  half-a-dozen-  elk.  They  chased  them  first  on 
horseback,  until  their  horses  were  jaded.  Then,  leaving 
the  horses,  they  kept  up  the  pursuit  on  foot,  in  the  mean 
time  divesting  themselves  of  all  superfluous  clothing.  In 
this  condition,  the  storm  came  upon  them  suddenly,  when 
they  were  out  in  the  open  prairie  between  the  Big  Sioux 
and  the  James  River.  Escape  was  impossible,  and  to 
live  through  the  storm  and  cold  in  their  condition  was 
equally  impossible,  even  for  an  Indian.  Far  and  near 
their  friends  hunted,  but  did  not  find  them  until  the  first 
day  of  May. 

So  the  hopes  and  plans  of  the  colony  and  the  church 
were  disappointed.  At  our  meeting,  we  expressed  sor 
row  and  sympathy,  and  endeavored  to  lead  the  people  to 
a  higher  trust  in  God.  The  young  men  might  fail  and 
fall,  but  the  command  was  still,  "Hope  thou  in  God." 
Before  we  left  them,  they  elected  another  leader  —  Will 
iamson  O.  Rogers  —  Mr.  All  Iron. 

The  Dakota  mission  had  been,  from  its  commencement, 
under  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions.  As  Presbyterians,  we  had  been  connected 
with  the  New  School  branch.  But  now  the  two  schools 
had  been  united.  Many  —  nay,  most  —  of  the  New 


FORTY    YEAKS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  269 

School  Assembly,  who  had  worked  with  the  American 
Board,  now  thought  it  their  duty  to  withdraw,  and 
connect  themselves  and  their  contributions  with  the  As 
sembly's  Board  of  Foreign  Missions.  The  ploughshare 
must  be  run  through  the  mission  fields  also.  We  in  the 
Dakota  mission  were  invited  to  transfer  our  relations. 
The  prudential  committee  at  Boston  left  us  to  act  out 
our  own  sweet  will.  Dr.  T.  S.  Williamson  and  Rev.  John 
P.  Williamson  elected  to  go  over  to  the  Presbyterian 
Board.  For  myself,  I  did  not  care  to  do  so.  Although 
conscientiously  a  Presbyterian,  I  was  not,  and  am  not,  so 
much  of  one  as  to  draw  me  away  from  the  associations 
which  had  been  growing  for  a  third  of  a  century.  Whether 
I  reasoned  rightly  or  wrongly,  I  conceived  that  I  had  a 
character  with  the  American  Board  that  I  could  not 
transfer ;  and  I  was  too  old  to  build  up  another  reputa 
tion.  Besides,  Alfred  L.  Riggs  had  now  joined  the  mis 
sion,  and  as  a  Congregational  minister  he  could  do  no 
otherwise  than  retain  his  connection  with  the  A.  B.  C.  F.M. 
The  case  was  a  plain  one.  We  divided.  Some  ques 
tions  then  came  up  as  to  the  field  and  the  work.  These 
were  very  soon  amicably  settled,  on  a  basis  which,  so  far 
as  I  know,  has  continued  to  be  satisfactory  from  that  day 
to  this.  The  churches  on  the  Sisseton  reservation  and 
at  the  Santee  were  to  continue  in  connection  with  the 
American  Board:  while  the  Big  Sioux  and  Yankton 
agency  churches  would  be  counted  as  under  the  Presby 
terian  Board.  Henceforth,  in  regard  to  common  expenses 
of  Dakota  publications,  they  were  to  bear  one-third,  and 
we  two-thirds. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

1870-1873.  —  A.  L.  Riggs  Builds  at  Santee.  —  The  Santee  High 
School.  —  Visit  to  Fort  Sully.  —  Change  of  Agents  at  Sisseton. 
—  Second  Marriage.  —  Annual  Meeting  at  Good  Will.  — Grand 
Gathering.  —  New  Treaty  Made  at  Sisseton.  —  Nina  Foster 
Riggs.  —  Our  Trip  to  Fort  Sully.  —  An  Incident  by  the  Way.  — 
Stop  at  Santee.  —  Pastor  Ehnamane.  —  His  Deer  Hunt.  —  An 
nual  Meeting  in  1873.  —  Rev.  S.  J.  Humphrey's  Visit.  —Mr. 
lumphrey's  Sketch. — Where  They  Come  From.  —  Morning 
Call. —  Visiting  the  Teepees. —  The  Religious  Gathering. —  The 
Moderator.  —  Questions  Discussed. —  The  Personnel. —  Putting 
up  a  Tent.  —  Sabbath  Service.  —  Mission  Reunion. 

FROM  Flandreau,  the  Dakota  homestead  settlement  on 
the  Big  Sioux,  I  accompanied  A.  L.  Riggs  and  J.  P.  Will 
iamson  to  the  Missouri.  A  year  before  this  time,  in  the 
month  of  May,  1870,  Alfred  had  removed  his  family  from 
Woodstock,  111.,  to  the  Santee  agency.  The  mission 
buildings  heretofore  had  been  of  the  cheapest  kind.  Only 
one  small  house  had  a  shingle  roof ;  the  rest  were  "  shacks." 
Before  his  arrival,  some  preparation  had  been  made  for 
building  —  logs  of  cotton-wood  had  been  cut  and  hauled 
to  the  government  saw-mill.  These  were  cut  up  into 
framing  lumber.  The  pine  boards  and  all  finishing  ma 
terials  were  taken  up  from  Yankton  and  Sioux  City  and 
Chicago,  and  so  he  proceeded  to  erect  a  family  dwelling 
and  a  school-house,  which  could  be  used  for  church  pur 
poses. 

These  were  so  far  finished  as  to  be  occupied  in  the 
autumn ;  and  a  school  was  opened  with  better  accommo- 

270 


FOKTY    YEAKS   WITH    THE    SIOUX.  271 

dations  and  advantages  than  heretofore.  In  the  Decem 
ber  lapi  Oaye,  there  appeared  a  notice  of  the  Santee 
High  School,  Rev.  A.  L.  Kiggs  Principal,  with  Eli 
Abraham  and  Albert  Frazier  assistants.  The  advertise 
ment  said,  "If  any  one  should  give  you  a  deer,  you 
would  probably  say,  'You  make  me  glad.'  But  how 
much  more  would  you  be  glad  if  one  should  teach  you 
how  to  hunt  and  kill  many  deer.  So,  likewise,  if  one 
should  teach  you  a  little  wisdom  he  would  make  you  glad, 
but  you  would  be  more  glad  if  one  taught  you  how  to 
acquire  knowledge."  This  the  Santee  High  School  pro 
posed  to  do. 

On  reaching  the  Santee,  I  met  by  appointment  Thomas 
L.  Riggs,  who  had  come  on  from  Chicago  at  the  end  of 
his  second  seminary  year.  Together  we  proceeded  up  to 
Fort  Sully,  where  we  spent  a  good  part  of  the  summer 
that  remained.  But  this,  with  what  came  of  our  visit, 
will  be  related  in  a  following  chapter.  In  the  autumn  I 
returned  to  Good  Will,  and  the  winter  was  one  of  work, 
on  the  line  which  we  had  been  following. 

During  the  early  part  of  this  winter,  1871-72,  a  change 
was  made  of  agents  at  Sisseton ;  Dr.  J.  W.  Daniels  re 
signed,  and  Rev.  M.  N.  Adams  came  in  his  place.  Dr. 
Daniels  was  Bishop  Whipple's  appointee,  and,  as  the 
Episcopalians  were  not  engaged  in  the  missionary  work 
on  this  reservation,  it  was  evidently  proper,  under  the 
existing  circumstances,  that  the  selection  should  be  ac 
corded  to  the  American  Board.  As,  many  years  before, 
Mr.  Adams  had  been  a  missionary  among  a  portion  of 
these  people,  he  came  as  United  States  Indian  agent, 
with  an  earnest  wish  to  forward  in  all  proper  ways  the 
cause  of  education  and  civilization  and  the  general  up 
lifting  of  the  whole  people.  He  met  with  a  good  deal  of 


272  MARY    AND    I. 

opposition,  but  continued  to  be  agent  more  than  three 
years,  and  left  many  memorials  of  his  interest  and  effi 
ciency,  in  the  school-houses  he  erected,  as  well  as  in  the 
hearts  of  the  Christian  people. 

The  object  that  had  been  paramount  in  taking  our 
family  to  Beloit  in  1865  was  but  partly  accomplished 
when  Mary  died  in  the  spring  of  1869.  Since  that  time 
three  years  had  passed.  Robert  had  gone  back  to  Beloit 
to  school,  and  was  now  ready  to  enter  the  freshman 
class  of  the  college.  Cornelia  was  in  her  fourteenth 
year,  and  her  education  only  fairly  begun.  It  was  need 
ful  that  she  should  have  the  advantages  of  a  good 
school.  To  accomplish  my  desire  for  their  education 
it  seemed  best  to  reoccupy  our  vacant  house.  That 
spring  of  1872,  I  was  commissioner  from  the  Dakota 
Presbytery  to  the  General  Assembly,  which  met  in 
Detroit.  At  the  close  of  the  assembly,  I  went  down 
to  Granville,  Ohio,  and,  in  accordance  with  an  arrange 
ment  previously  made,  I  married  Mrs.  Annie  Baker 
Ackley,  who  had  once  been  a  teacher  with  us  at  Hazel- 
wood,  and  more  recently  had  spent  several  years  in 
the  employ  of  the  American  Missionary  Association, 
in  teaching  the  freedmen.  We  at  once  proceeded 
to  the  Good  Will  mission  station,  where  the  summer 
was  spent,  and  then  in  the  autumn  opened  our  house 
in  Beloit. 

The  meeting  of  the  ministers  and  elders  and  represen 
tatives  of  the  Dakota  churches,  which  was  held  with  the 
River  Bend  church  on  the  Big  Sioux,  had  been  found 
very  profitable  to  all.  At  that  time  a  like  conference 
had  been  arranged  for,  to  meet  on  the  25th  of  June, 
1872,  with  the  church  of  Good  Will,  on  the  Sisseton 


FORTY   YEARS   WITH   THE    SIOUX.  273 

reservation.  The  announcement  was  made  in  the 
April  lapi  Oaye.  In  the  invitation  nine  churches 
are  mentioned,  viz. :  The  Santee,  Yankton,  River  Bend, 
Lac-qui-parle,  Ascension,  Good  Will,  Buffalo  Lake, 
Long  Hollow,  and  Kettle  Lakes.  It  was  said  that 
subjects  interesting  and  profitable  to  all  would  be 
discussed ;  and  especially  was  the  presence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  desired  and  prayed  for,  since,  without  God 
present  with  us,  the  assembly  would  be  only  a  dead 
body. 

In  the  green  month  of  June,  when  the  roses  on  the 
prairie  began  to  bloom,  then  they  began  to  assemble  at 
our  Dakota  Conference.  Dr.  T.  S.  Williamson  came  up 
from  his  home  at  St.  Peter  — 200  miles.  John  P.  Will 
iamson,  from  the  Yankton  agency,  and  A.  L.  Riggs, 
from  Santee,  brought  with  them  Rev.  Joseph  Ward, 
pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Yankton.  As 
they  came  by  Sioux  Falls  and  Flandreau,  their  whole 
way  would  not  be  much  under  300  miles.  Thomas  L. 
Riggs,  who  had  commenced  his  new  station  in  the  close 
of  the  winter,  came  across  the  country  from  Fort 
Sully  on  horseback,  a  distance  of  about  220  miles, 
having  with  him  a  Dakota  guide  and  soldier  guard. 
They  rode  it  in  less  than  five  days.  From  all  parts 
came  the  Dakota  pastors  and  elders  and  messengers 
of  the  churches.  The  gathering  was  so  large  that  a 
booth  was  made  for  the  Sabbath  service.  It  was  an 
inspiration  to  us  all.  It  was  unanimously  voted  to  hold 
the  next  year's  meeting  with  the  Yanktons  at  the  Yank- 
ton  agency. 

At  the  Sisseton  agency,  in  the  month  of  September, 
a  semi-treaty  was  made  by  Agents  M.  N.  Adams  and 
W.  H.  Forbes,  and  James  Smith,  Jr.,  of  St.  Paul, 


274  MARY   AND    I. 

United  States  commissioners,  with  the  Dakota  Indians 
of  the  Lake  Traverse  and  Devil's  Lake  reservations, 
by  which  they  relinquish  all  their  claim  on  the  country 
of  North  eastern  Dakota  through  which  the  Northern 
Pacific  Railroad  runs.  By  this  arrangement,  educa 
tion  would  have  been  made  compulsory,  and  the  men 
would  have  been  enabled  to  obtain  patents  for  their 
land  within  some  reasonable  time;  but  the  Senate 
struck  out  everything  except  the  ceding  of  the  land 
and  the  compensation  therefor.  Our  legislators  do 
not  greatly  desire  that  Indians  should  become  white 
men. 

When  Thanksgiving  Day  came  this  year,  Mr.  Adams 
dedicated  a  fine  brick  school-house,  which  he  had  th.it 
summer  erected,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  agency.  Of  this 
occasion  he  wrote,  "  It  was  indeed  a  day  of  thanksgiving 
and  praise  with  us,  and  to  me  an  event  of  the  deepest 
interest.  And  I  hope  that  good  and  lasting  impres 
sions  were  made  there  upon  the  minds  of  some  of  this 
people." 

In  the  work  of  Bible  translation,  I  had  been  occupied 
with  the  book  of  Daniel  in  the  summer,  and,  in  the 
winter  that  followed,  my  first  copy  of  the  Minor  Proph 
ets  was  made.  When  the  spring  came,  I  hied  away  to 
the  Dakota  country.  This  time  my  course  was  to  the 
Missouri  River.  Thomas  had  been  married  in  Bangor, 
Me.,  to  Nina  Foster,  daughter  of  Hon.  John  B.  Foster, 
and  sister  of  Mrs.  Charles  H.  Howard  of  the  Advance. 
They  came  west,  and,  as  the  winter  was  not  yet  past, 
Thomas  went  on  from  Chicago  alone,  and  Nina  remained 
with  her  sister  until  navigation  should  open.  And  so  it 
came  to  pass  that  she  and  I  were  company  for  each  other 
to  Fort  Sully. 


FOETY   YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  275 

As  we  left  Yankton  in  the  stage  for  Santee,  where  we 
were  to  stop  a  few  days  and  wait  for  an  up-river  boat,  an 
incident  occurred  which  must  have  been  novel  to  the  girl 
from  Bangor.  The  day  was  just  breaking  when  the 
stage  had  made  out  its  complement  of  passengers,  ex 
cept  one.  There  were  six  men  on  the  two  seats  before 
us,  and  Nina  and  I  were  behind.  At  a  little  tavern 
in  the  suburbs  of  the  town,  the  ninth  passenger  was 
taken  in.  As  he  came  out  we  could  see  that  he  was  the 
worse  for  drinking.  I  at  once  shoved  over  to  the 
middle  of  the  seat,  and  let  him  in  by  my  side.  He 
turned  out  to  be  a  burly  French  half-breed,  or  a  French 
man  who  had  a  Dakota  family.  We  had  gone  but  a 
little  distance,  when  he  said  he  was  going  to  smoke.  I 
objected  to  his  smoking  inside  the  stage.  He  begged 
the  lady's  pardon  a  thousand  times,  but  said  he  must 
smoke.  By  this  time  he  had  hunted  in  his  pockets,  but 
did  not  find  his  pipe.  "  O  mon  pipe  !  "  The  stage- 
driver  must  turn  around  and  go  back  —  it  cost  $75. 
He  worked  himself  and  the  rest  of  us  into  quite 
an  excitement.  By  and  by  he  said  to  me:  "Do 
you  know  who  I  am  ?  "  I  said  I  did  not.  He 
said,  "I  am  Red  Cloud,  and  I  have  killed  a  great 
many  white  men."  "  Ah,"  said  I,  "  you  are  Red  Cloud  ? 
I  do  not  believe  you  can  talk  Dakota  "  —  and  immediately 
I  commenced  talking  Dakota.  He  turned  around  and 
stared  at  me.  "  Who  are  you  ?  "  he  said.  From  that 
moment  he  was  my  friend,  and  ever  so  good. 

It  was  now  the  month  of  May,  but  there  were  deep 
snow  banks  still  in  the  ravines  on  the  north  side  of  the 
river.  A  terrible  storm  had  swept  over  the  country 
from  the  north-east  about  the  middle  of  April.  A  hun 
dred  Indian  ponies  and  forty  or  fifty  head  of  cattle  at 


276  MARY    AND   I. 

the  Santee  agency  had  perished.  This  made  spring 
work  go  heavily. 

I  was  interested  in  examining  the  building  erected  last 
summer  for  the  girls'  boarding-school.  It  should  have 
been  completed  before  the  winter  came  on,  according  to 
the  agreement.  But  now  it  is  intended  to  have  it  ready 
for  occupancy  the  first  of  September.  When  finished,  it 
will  accommodate  twenty  or  twenty-four  girls  and  also 
the  lady  teachers. 

On  the  Sabbath  we  spent  there,  I  preached  in  the 
morning,  and  Pastor  Artemas  Ehnamane  preached  in  the 
afternoon.  The  Word  Carrier  tells  a  good  story  of  this 
Santee  pastor.  In  his  younger  days,  Ehnamane  was  one 
of  the  best  Dakota  hunters.  Tall  and  straight  as  an 
arrow,  he  was  literally  as  swift  as  a  deer.  And  he 
learned  to  use  a  gun  with  wonderful  precision.  Only  a 
few  years  before  this  time,  I  was  traveling  with  him, 
when,  in  the  evening,  he  took  his  gun  and  went  around  a 
lake,  and  brought  into  camp  twelve  large  ducks.  He  had 
shot  three  times. 

Well,  in  the  fall  of  1872  his  church  gave  him  a  vaca 
tion  of  six  weeks,  and  "he  turned  his  footsteps  to  the 
wilds  of  the  Running  Water,  where  his  heart  grew 
young,  and  his  rifle  cracked  the  death-knell  of  the  deer 
and  antelope. 

"  Being  on  the  track  of  the  hostile  Sioux  who  go  to  fight 
the  Pawnees,  one  evening  he  found  himself  near  a  camp 
of  the  wild  Brules.  He  was  weak,  they  were  strong  and 
perhaps  hostile.  It  was  time  for  him  to  show  his  colors. 
His  kettles  were  filled  to  the  brim.  The  proud  warriors 
were  called,  and  as  they  filled  their  mouths  with  his 
savory  meat,  he  filled  their  ears  with  the  sound  of  the 
Gospel  trumpet,  and  gave  them  their  first  view  of  eter- 


FORTY   YEAES   WITH    THE    SIOUX.  277 

nal  life.  Thus  the  deer  hunt  became  a  soul  hunt.  The 
wild  Brules  grunted  their  friendly  'yes,'  as  they  left 
Ehnamane's  teepee,  their  mouths  filled  with  venison,  and 
their  hearts  with  the  good  seed  of  truth,  from  which 
some  one  will  reap  the  fruit  after  many  days." 

On  the  13th  of  June,  1873,  the  second  regular  annual 
meeting  of  the  Dakota  Conference  commenced  its  sessions 
at  Rev.  John  P.  Williamson's  mission  at  the  Yankton 
agency.  The  Word  Carrier  for  August  says  this  was  a 
very  full  meeting  :  "  Every  missionary  and  assistant  mis 
sionary,  except  Mrs.  S.  R.  Riggs  and  W.  K.  Morris,  was 
present,  also  every  native  preacher  and  a  full  list  of  other 
delegates."  I  came  down  from  Fort  Sully  with  T.  L. 
Riggs  and  his  wife,  who  had  only  joined  him  a  few  weeks 
before.  Martha  Riggs  Morris  and  her  two  children  came 
over  from  Sisseton  —  three  hundred  miles  —  with  the 
Dakota  delegation.  They  had  a  hard  journey.  The 
roads  were  bad  and  the  streams  were  flooded.  There 
was  no  way  of  crossing  the  Big  Sioux  except  by  swim 
ming,  and  those  who  could  not  swim  were  pulled  over  in 
a  poor  boat  improvised  from  a  wagon-bed.  It  was  not 
without  a  good  deal  of  danger.  Those  from  the  Santee 
agency  had  only  the  Missouri  River  to  cross,  and  a  day's 
journey  to  make.  The  interest  of  our  meeting  was  greatly 
increased  by  the  presence  of  Rev.  S.  J.  Humphrey,  D.D., 
District  Secretary  of  the  American  Board,  Chicago ;  and 
Rev.  E.  H.  Avery,  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church  in 
Sioux  City. 

Mr.  Williamson's  new  chapel  made  a  very  pleasant 
place  for  the  gatherings.  Pastoral  Support,  Pastoral 
Visitation,  and  Vernacular  Teaching  were  among  the 
live  topics  discussed.  Their  eager  consideration  and 


278  MAKY   AND   I. 

prompt  discussion  of  these  questions  were  in  strong  con 
trast  with  the  stolid  indifference  and  mulish  reticence  of 
the  former  life  of  these  native  Dakotas,  and  showed  the 
working  of  a  superhuman  agency.  Our  friend  S.  J. 
Humphrey  wrote  and  published  a  very  life-like  descrip 
tion  of  what  he  saw  and  heard  on  this  visit,  and  it  does 
me  great  pleasure  to  let  him  bear  testimony  to  the  mar 
vels  wrought  by  the  power  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ. 

"  The  annual  meeting  of  the  Dakota  Mission  was  held 
at  Yankton  agency,  commencing  June  13.  We  esteem 
it  a  rare  privilege  to  have  been  present  on  that  occasion 
and  to  have  seen  with  our  own  eyes  the  marvelous  trans 
formations  wrought  by  the  Gospel  among  this  people. 
Thirty-six  hours  by  rail  took  us  to  Yankton,  the  border 
town  of  civilization.  Twelve  hours  more  in  stage  and 
open  wagon  along  the  north  bank  of  the  Missouri  —  the 
Big  Muddy,  as  the  Indians  rightly  call  it  —  carried  us 
sixty  miles  into  the  edge  of  the  vast  open  prairie,  and 
into  the  heart  of  the  Yankton  reservation.  Here,  scat 
tered  up  and  down  the  river  bottom  for  thirty  miles,  live 
the  Yanktons,  one  of  the  Dakota  bands,  about  2000  in 
number.  Thirty  miles  below,  on  the  opposite  bank,  in 
Nebraska,  are  the  Santees.  Up  the  river  for  many  hun 
dreds  of  miles  at  different  points  other  reservations  are 
set  off,  while  several  wilder  bands  still  hunt  the  buffalo 
on  the  wide  plains  that  stretch  westward  to  the  Black 
Hills.  The  Sissetons,  another  family  of  this  tribe,  are 
located  near  Lake  Traverse,  on  the  eastern  boundary  of 
Dakota  Territory.  This  is  the  field  of  the  Dakota  Mission. 
The  chief  bands  laid  hold  of  thus  far  are  the  Sisseton,  the 
Santee,  and  the  Yankton.  A  new  point  has  recently 
been  taken  at  Fort  Sully,  among  the  Teetons. 


FORTY    YEARS   WITH    THE    SIOUX.  279 

"It  was  from  these  places,  lying  apart  in  their  extremes 
at  least  300  miles,  that  more  than  a  hundred  Indians 
gathered  at  this  annual  meeting.  On  Thursday  after 
noon  the  hospitable  doors  of  Rev.  J.  P.  Williamson's 
spacious  log  house  opened  just  in  time  to  give  us  shelter 
from  a  fierce  storm  of  wind  and  rain.  The  next  morning 
the  Santees,  fifty  of  them  from  the  Pilgrim  Church,  some 
on  foot,  some  on  pony-back,  and  a  few  in  wagons,  strag 
gled  in,  and  pitched  their  camp,  in  Indian  fashion,  on  the 
open  space  near  the  mission  house.  About  noon  the  Sis- 
setons  appeared,  a  dilapidated  crowd  of  more  than  forty, 
weary  and  foot-sore  with  their  300  miles  tramp  through 
ten  tedious  days.  Among  them  was  one  white  person,  a 
woman,  with  her  two  children,  the  youngest  an  infant, 
not  a  captive,  but  a  missionary's  wife,  traveling  thus  among 
a  people  whom  the  Gospel  had  made  captives  themselves, 
chiefly  through  the  labors  of  an  honored  father  and  a 
mother  of  blessed  memory.  It  intimates  the  courage  and 
endurance  needed  for  such  a  trip  to  know  that  there  were 
almost  no  human  habitations  on  the  way,  and  that  swollen 
rivers  were  repeatedly  crossed  in  the  wagon-box,  stripped 
of  its  wheels  and  made  sea-worthy  by  canvas  swathed 
underneath. 

"  An  hour  afterward,  from  200  miles  in  the  opposite 
direction,  the  Fort  Sully  delegation  appeared.  For 
Father  Riggs,  and  the  younger  son,  famous  as  a  hard 
rider,  this  journey  was  no  great  affair.  But  the  tenderly 
reared  young  wife  —  how  she  could  endure  the  five  days 
of  wagon  and  tent  life  is  among  the  mysteries. 

"  That  this  was  no  crowd  of  Indian  revellers  come  to  a 
sun  dance  (as  it  might  have  been  of  yore)  was  soon  man 
ifest.  The  first  morning  after  their  arrival,  a  strange, 
chanting  voice,  like  that  of  a  herald,  mingled  with  our 


280  MARY    AND    I. 

day-break  dreams.  Had  we  been  among  the  Mussulmans 
we  should  have  thought  it  the  muezzin's  cry.  Of  course, 
all  was  Indian  to  us,  but  we  learned  afterward  that  it 
was  indeed  a  call  to  prayer,  with  this  English  render 
ing:— 

"  'Morning  is  coining!    Morning  is  coming! 

Wake  up!    Wake  up!    Come  to  sing!    Come  to  pray!' 

"  In  a  few  minutes,  for  it  does  not  take  an  Indian  long 
to  dress,  the  low  cadence  of  many  voices  joining  in  one 
of  our  own  familiar  tunes  rose  sweetly  on  the  air,  telling 
us  that  the  day  of  their  glad  solemnities  had  begun. 
This  was  entirely  their  own  notion,  and  was  repeated 
each  of  the  four  days  we  were  together. 

"  On  this  same  morning  another  sharp  contrast  of  the 
old  and  the  new  appeared.  By  invitation  of  the  elder 
Williamson,  we  took  a  walk  among  the  teepees  of  the 
natives  who  live  on  the  ground.  Passing,  with  due 
regard  for  Dakota  etiquette,  those  which  contained  only 
women,  we  came  to  one  which  we  might  properly  enter. 
The  inmates  were  evidently  of  the  heathen  party.  A 
man,  apparently  fifty,  sat  upon  a  skin,  entirely  nude 
save  the  inevitable  blanket,  which  he  occasionally  drew 
up  about  his  waist.  A  lad  of  sixteen,  in  the  same  state, 
lounged  in  an  obscure  corner.  The  mother,  who,  we 
learned,  occasionally  attended  meeting,  wore  a  drabbled 
dress,  doubtless  her  only  garment.  Two  or  three  others 
were  present  in  different  stages  of  undress,  and  all  lazy, 
stolid,  dirty.  As  we  looked  into  these  impassive  faces 
we  could  understand  the  saying  of  one  of  the  missiona 
ries,  that  when  you  first  speak  to  an  audience  of  wild 
Indians  you  might  as  well  preach  to  the  back  of  their 
heads,  so  far  as  any  responsive  expression  is  concerned. 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  281 

And  yet,  now  and  then,  the  dull  glow  of  a  latent  ferocity 
would  light  up  the  eye,  like  that  of  a  beast  of  prey 
looking  for  his  next  meal.  Alas  !  for  the  noble  red  man  ! 
In  spite  of  what  the  poets  say,  we  found  him  a  filthy, 
stupid  savage.  All  this  we  have  time  to  see  while  Mr. 
Williamson  talks  to  them  in  the  unknown  tongue.  But 
now  the  little  church  bell  calls  us  to  the  mission  chapel. 
It  is  already  filled  —  the  men  on  one  side,  the  women  on 
the  other.  The  audience  numbers  perhaps  two  hundred. 
"All  classes  and  ages  are  there.  All  are  decently 
dressed.  Were  it  not  for  the  dark  faces,  you  would  not 
distinguish  them  from  an  ordinary  country  congregation. 
The  hymn  has  already  been  given  out,  and  each,  with 
book  in  hand,  has  found  the  place.  The  melodeon  sets 
the  tune,  and  then,  standing,  they  sing.  It  is  no  weak- 
lunged  performance,  we  can  assure  you.  Not  altogether 
harmonious,  perhaps,  but  vastly  sweeter  than  a  war- 
whoop,  we  fancy ;  certainly  hearty  and  sincere,  and,  we 
have  no  doubt,  an  acceptable  offering  of  praise.  A  low- 
voiced  prayer,  by  a  native  pastor,  uttered  with  reverent 
unction,  follows.  Another  singing,  and  then  the  sermon. 
One  of  the  Renvilles  is  the  preacher.  We  do  not  know 
what  it  is  all  about.  But  the  ready  utterance,  the  mel 
lifluent  flow  of  words,  the  unaffected  earnestness  of  the 
speaker,  and  the  fixed  attention  of  the  audience,  mark  it 
as  altogether  a  success.  While  he  speaks  to  the  people, 
we  study  their  faces.  They  are  certainly  a  great  im 
provement  upon  those  we  saw  in  the  teepee.  But  not 
one  or  two  generations  of  Christian  life  will  work  off  the 
stupid,  inexpressive  look  that  ages  of  heathenism  have 
graven  into  them.  There  is  a  steady  gain,  however. 
Just  as  in  a  dissolving  view  there  come  slowly  out  on 
the  canvas  glimpses  of  a  fair  landscape,  mingling 


282  MARY    AND    I. 

strangely  with  the  dim  outlines  of  the  disappearing  old 
ruin,  so  there  is  struggling  through  these  stony  faces  an 
expression  of  the  new  creation  within,  the  converted  soul 
striving  to  light  up  and  inform  the  hard  features,  and 
displace  the  ruin  of  the  old  savage  life.  But  the  poor 
women!  Their  case  is  even  worse.  They  start  from 
a  lower  plane.  Some  of  these  are  young,  some  are 
mothers  with  their  infants,  many  are  well  treated  wives, 
not  a  few  take  part  with  propriety  in  the  women's  meet 
ings,  and  yet  you  look  in  vain  among  them  all  for  one 
happy  face.  They  wear  a  beaten  and  abused  look,  as  if 
blows  and  cruelty  had  been  their  daily  lot,  as  if  they 
lived  even  only  by  sufferance.  This  is  the  settled  look 
of  their  faces  when  in  repose.  But  speak  to  them ;  let 
the  missionary  tell  them  you  are  their  friend ;  and  their 
eyes  light  up  with  a  gentle  gladness,  showing  that  a  true 
womanly  soul  only  slumbers  in  them.  This  came  out 
beautifully  at  a  later  point  in  the  meeting.  A  motion 
was  about  to  be  put,  when  some  one  insisted  that  on  that 
question  the  women  should  express  their  minds.  This 
was  cordially  assented  to,  and  they  were  requested  to 
stand  with  the  men  in  a  rising  vote.  The  girls,  of 
course,  giggled  ;  but  the  women  modestly  rose  in  their 
places,  and  it  was  worth  a  trip  all  the  way  from  Chicago 
to  see  the  look  of  innocent  pride  into  which  their  sad 
faces  were  for  once  surprised. 

"  But  sermon  is  done.  There  is  another  loud-voiced 
hymn,  and  then  the  meeting  of  days  is  declared  duly 
opened.  It  is  to  be  a  composite,  a  session  of  Presbytery, 
for  they  happen  to  have  taken  that  form,  and  a  Con 
ference  of  churches.  A  leading  candidate  for  moderator 
is  Ehnamane,  a  Santee  pastor.  How  far  the  fact  that  he 
is  a  great  hunter  and  a  famous  paddleman  affects  the 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  283 

vote  we  can  not  say.  This  may  have  had  more  weight : 
his  father  was  a  great  conjurer  and  war  prophet.  Before 
he  died  he  said  to  his  son :  — 

"  *  The  white  man  is  coming  into  the  country,  and  your 
children  may  learn  to  read.  But  promise  me  that  you 
will  never  leave  the  religion  of  your  ancestors.' 

"  He  promised.  Arid  he  says  now  that  had  the  Min 
nesota  outbreak  not  come,  in  which  his  gods  were 
worsted  by  the  white  man's  God,  he  would  have  kept 
true  to  his  pledge.  As  it  is,  he  now  preaches  the  faitli 
which  once  he  destroyed,  and  they  make  him  moderator. 

"  We  will  not  follow  the  meeting  throughout  the  days. 
There  are  resolutions  and  motions  to  amend  and  all 
that,  just  like  white  folks,  and  plenty  of  speech-making. 
Now  a  telling  hit  sends  a  ripple  of  laughter  through  the 
room;  and  now  the  moistened  eyes  and  trembling  lip  tell 
that  some  deep  vein  of  feeling  has  been  touched.  Grave 
questions  are  under  discussion :  Pastoral  Support,  open 
ing  out  into  general  benevolence ;  Pastoral  Visitation,  its 
necessity,  methods,  difficulties,  and  also  as  a  work  per 
taining  to  elders,  deacons,  and  to  the  whole  membership ; 
Primary  Education  —  shall  it  be  in  the  vernacular  or  in 
English  ?  a  most  spirited  debate,  resulting  in  this  :  iJRe- 
solved,  That  so  long  as  the  children  speak  the  Dakota  at 
home,  education  should  be  begun  in  the  Dakota.'  Then 
the  lapi  Oaye,  the  Word  Carrier  —  for  they  have  their 
newspaper,  and  it  has  its  financial  troubles  —  comes  up. 
All  rally  to  its  support.  But  the  hundred-dollar  deficit 
for  last  year,  that,  we  suspect,  comes  out  of  the  mission 
aries'  meagre  salaries.  All  along  certain  more  strictly 
ecclesiastical  matters  are  mingled  in.  James  Red- Wing 
is  brought  forward  to  be  approbated  as  a  preacher  at  Fort 
Sully.  An  application  is  considered  for  forming  a  new 


284  MARY    AND   I. 

church  on  the  Sisseton  reserve.  The  church  at  White 
Banks  asks  aid  for  a  church  building,  and  a  Yankton 
elder  is  examined  and  received  as  a  candidate  for  the 
ministry.  The  Indians,  in  large  numbers,  share  freely 
in  all  these  deliberations.  Everything  is  decorous  and 
dignified,  sometimes  evidently  intensely  interesting,  we 
the  while  burning  to  know  what  they  are  saying,  and 
getting  the  general  drift  only  through  a  friendly  whisper 
in  the  ear.  While  they  are  discussing,  we  will  make  a 
few  notes :  about  one-third  of  these  before  us  were 
imprisoned  for  the  massacre  of  1862,  although,  probably, 
none  of  them  took  active  part  in  it.  The  larger  portion 
of  them  were  made  freemen  of  the  Lord  in  that  great 
prison  revival  at  Mankato,  as  a  result  of  which  300  joined 
the  church  in  one  day.  They  were  also  of  that  number 
who,  when  being  transferred  by  steamer  to  Davenport, 
*  passed  St.  Paul  in  chains,  indeed,  but  singing  the  fifty- 
first  Psalm,  to  the  tune  of  Old  Hundred.  Seven  of  these 
men  are  regularly  ordained  ministers,  pastors  of  as  many 
churches;  two  others  are  licentiate  preachers.  Quite  a 
number  are  teachers,  deacons,  elders,  or  delegates  of  the 
nine  churches  belonging  to  the  mission,  and  they  report 
a  goodly  fellowship  of  775  Dakota  members,  79  of  whom 
have  come  into  the  fold  since  the  last  meeting. 

"  Two  or  three  of  these  men  are  of  some  historic  note. 
John  B.  Renville,  who  sits  at  the  scribe's  desk,  was  the 
main  one  in  inaugurating  the  counter  revolution  in  the 
hostilities  of  1862.  Yonder  is  Peter  Big-Fire,  who,  by 
his  address,  turned  the  war  party  from  the  trail  of  the 
fleeing  missionaries.  And  there  is  Gray-Cloud,  for  five 
years  in  the  United  States  army,  a  sergeant  of  scouts ; 
and  Chaskadan,  the  Elder  Brewster  of  the  prison 
church  5  and  Lewis  JVIazawakinyanna,  formerly  chaplain 


FORTY    YEAKS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  285 

among  the  fort  scouts,  now  pastor  of  Mayasan  Church, 
and  Hokshidanminiamani,  once  a  conjurer,  now  no 
longer  raising  spirits  in  the  teepee,  but  humbly  seeking 
to  be  taught  of  the  Divine  Spirit ;  —  and  all  these  —  ah  ! 
our  eyes  fill  with  tears  as  we  think  that  but  for  the 
blessed  Gospel  they  would  still  be  worshipers  of  devils. 

"The  meeting  is  adjourned,  and  the  brethren  are  com 
ing  forward  to  greet  us.  We  never  grasped  hands  with 
a  heartier  good- will.  But  somehow  our  sense  of  humor 
will  not  be  altogether  quiet  as,  one  after  another,  we  are 
introduced  to  Elder  Big-Fire,  Rev.  Mr.  All-good,  Deacon 
Boy-that-walks-on-tlie- water,  Pastor  Little-Iron-Thunder, 
Elder  Gray-Cloud,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Stone-that-paints-itself- 
red.  But  they  are  grand  men,  and  their  names  are  quite 
as  euphonious  as  some  English  ones  we  could  pick  out. 

"  While  supper  is  preparing,  we  will  look  a  moment  at 
a  phase  of  tent  life.  A  sudden  gust  of  wind  has  blown 
over  two  of  the  large  teepees.  And  now  they  are  to  be 
set  up  again.  One  is  occupied  by  the  men,  the  other  by 
the  women.  Under  the  old  regime  the  women  do  all  this 
kind  of  work.  But  now  the  men  are  willing  to  try  their 
hand  at  it,  at  least  upon  their  own  tent.  It  is  new  work, 
however,  and,  while  they  are  making  futile  attempts  at 
tying  together  the  ends  of  the  first  three  poles,  the  moth 
ers  and  wives  have  theirs  already  up  and  nearly  covered. 
At  length  a  broad-chested  woman  steps  over  among  them, 
strips  off  their  ill  tied  strings,  repacks  the  ends  of  the 
poles,  and  with  two  or  three  deft  turns  binds  them  fast, 
and  all  with  a  kind  of  nervous  contempt  as  if  she  were 
saying  —  she  probably  is:  '  Oh,  you  stupid  fellows!' 
The  after  work  does  not  seem  to  be  much  more  success 
ful,  and  they  stand  around  in  a  helpless  sort  of  way, 
while  the  young  women  are  evidently  bantering  them 


286  MARY    AND    I. 

with  good-natured  jests,  much  as  a  bevy  of  white  girls 
would  do  in  seeing  a  man  vainly  trying  to  stitch  on  a 
missing  button,  each  new  bungling  mistake  drawing  the 
fire  of  the  fair  enemy  in  a  fresh  explosion  of  laughter. 
How  the  thing  comes  out  we  do  not  stay  to  see,  but  we 
suspect  that  the  practised  hands  of  the  good  women 
finally  come  to  the  rescue. 

"  Sunday  is  the  chief  day  of  interest,  and  yet  there  is 
less  to  report  about  that.  In  the  morning,  at  nine  o'clock, 
Rev.  A.  L.  Riggs  conducts  a  model  Bible  class,  with  re 
marks  on  the  art  of  questioning.  At  the  usual  hour  of 
service  the  church  is  crowded,  and  Rev.  Solomon  Toon- 
kanshaichiye  preaches,  we  doubt  not,  a  most  excellent 
sermon.  Immediately  following  is  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  with  the  fathers  of  the  mission,  Revs.  Dr. 
Riggs  and  Williamson  officiating,  a  tender  and  solemn 
scene,  impressive  even  to  us  who  understand  no  single 
word  of  the  service,  for  grave  Indian  deacons  reverently 
pass  the  elements ;  and  many  receive  them  which  but  for 
a  knowledge  of  this  dear  sacrifice  might  have  reckoned 
it  their  chief  glory  that  their  hands  were  stained  with 
human  blood. 

"Just  as  we  close,  in  strange  contrast  with  the  spirit  of 
the  hour,  two  young  Indian  braves  go  by  the  windows. 
They  are  tricked  out  with  all  manner  of  savage  frippery. 
Ribbons  stream  in  the  wind,  strings  of  discordant  sleigh- 
bells  grace  their  horses'  necks  and  herald  their  approach. 
Each  carries  a  drawn  sword  which  flashes  in  the  sunlight, 
and  a  plentiful  use  of  red  ochre  and  eagles'  feathers 
completes  the  picture.  As  they  ride  by  on  their  scrawny 
little  ponies  the  effect  is  indescribably  absurd.  But  they 
think  it  very  fine,  and,  like  their  cousins,  the  white  fops, 
have  simply  come  to  show  themselves. 


FORTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          287 

"  In  the  afternoon  is  an  English  service,  and  then  one 
wholly  conducted  by  the  natives  themselves.  No  even 
ing  meetings  are  held,  as  these  people  that  rise  with  the 
birds  are  not  far  behind  them  in  going  to  their  rest.  On 
Monday  the  business  is  finished,  and  the  farewells  are 
said.  And  on  Tuesday  morning  the  various  delegations 
start  for  their  distant  homes. 

"  We  have  no  space  to  speak  of  the  meeting  of  the 
mission  proper.  It  was  held  at  Mr.  Williamson's  house 
during  the  evenings.  Nearly  all  its  members  were  pres 
ent, —  a  delightful  reunion  it  was  to  them  and  us,  —  and 
many  questions  of  serious  interest  were  amply  discussed. 

We  dare  not  trust  our  pen  to  write  about  these  noble 
men  and  women  as  we  would.  The  results  of  their 
labors  abundantly  testify  for  them,  and  their  record  is  on 
high.  May  they  receive  an  hundredfold  for  their  work 
of  faith,  and  labor  of  love,  and  patience  of  hope  in  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ." 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

1873-1874.  —  The  American  Board  at  Minneapolis.  —  The  Nidus 
of  the  Dakota  Mission.  —  Large  Indian  Delegation. — Ehna- 
mane  and  Mazakootemane.  —  "Then  and  Now."  —  The 
Woman's  Meeting. — Xina  Foster  Riggs  and  Lizzie  Bishop  — 
Miss  Bishop's  Work  and  Early  Death.  — Manual  Labor  Board 
ing-School  at  Sisseton.  — Building  Dedicated.  — M.  N.  Adams, 
Agent.  —  School  Opened.  —  Mrs.  Armor  and  Mrs.  Morris. — 
"My  Darling  in  God's  Garden." —Visit  to  Fort  Berthold.— 
Mandans,  Rees,  and  Hidatsa.  —  Dr.  W.  Matthews'  Hidatsa 
Grammar.  —  Beliefs.  —  Missionary  Interest  in  Berthold.  — 
Down  the  Missouri.  —  Annual  Meeting  at  Santee.  —  Normal 
School.  — Dakotas  Build  a  Church  at  Ascension.  — Journey  to 
the  O  jib  was  with  E.  P.  Wheeler.  —  Leech  Lake  and  Red  Lake, 
—  On  the  Gitche  Gumme.  —  "The  Stoneys." —Visit  to 
Odanah.  —  Hope  for  Ojibwas. 

THE  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions  was  to  hold  its  annual  meeting  in  the  autumn  of 
1873  in  the  city  of  Minneapolis.  That  was  almost  the 
identical  spot  where  our  mission  had  been  commenced, 
nearly  forty  years  before.  And  it  was  comparatively  near 
to  the  centre  of  our  present  work.  These  were  reasons 
why  we  should  make  a  special  effort  to  bring  the  Dakota 
mission,  on  this  occasion,  prominently  before  this  great 
Christian  gathering.  Our  churches  on  the  Sisseton 
reservation  were  only  a  little  more  than  200  miles  away. 
Taking  advantage  of  the  St.  Paul  &  Pacific  Railroad, 
it  would  only  be  a  three-days  journey.  Accordingly,  I 
applied  to  my  friend  Gen.  Geo.  L.  Becker  of  St.  Paul, 
who  was  then  president  of  the  road,  to  send  me  half- 

288 


FORTY   YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  289 

fares  for  a  dozen  Dakota  men.     He  generously  responded, 
and  sent  me  up  a  free  pass  down  for  that  number. 

This  made  it  possible  for  all  the  churches  on  the 
Sisseton  reservation  to  be  represented  by  pastors  and 
elders.  A.  L.  Riggs  brought  over  a  good  delegation  from 
the  Santee,  so  that  we  had  there  seventeen  of  our  most 
prominent  men.  The  present  missionaries  and  assistant 
missionaries  of  the  Board,  except  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Morris, 
were  all  there.  Our  brother  John  P.  Williamson  was 
engaged  in  church-building,  and  could  not  attend.  But 
there  were  the  Pond  brothers  and  Dr.  T.  S.  Williamson 
accepting  with  glad  hearts  the  results  of  their  labors 
commenced  thirty-nine  years  before.  And  the  presence 
of  so  large  an  Indian  delegation  added  much  to  the 
popular  interest  of  the  occasion.  So  that  the  subject  of 
Indian  missions  in  general,  and  of  the  Dakota  mission  in 
particular,  engaged  the  attention  of  this  great  meeting 
for  about  one-third  of  their  time.  Artemas  Ehnamane, 
the  pastor  of  Pilgrim  Church  at  Santee,  and  Paul 
Mazakootemane,  the  hero  of  the  outbreak  of  1862,  both 
made  addresses  before  the  Board,  which  were  interpreted 
by  A.  L.  Riggs. 

In  the  Dakota  Word  Carrier,  we  were  at  this  time 
publishing  a  series  of  "  Sketches  of  the  Dakota  Mission," 
which  we  gathered  into  a  pamphlet  and  distributed  to 
the  thousands  of  Christian  friends  gathered  there.  Num 
ber  twelve  of  these  sketches  is  mainly  a  contrast  between 
the  commencement  and  the  present  state  of  our  work 
among  the  Dakotas,  from  which  I  make  the  following 
extract :  — 

"THEN  AND  NOW. 

"In  the  first  days  of  July,  1839,  a  severe  battle  was 
fought  between  the  Dakotas  and  Ojibwas.  The  Ojibwas 


290  MARY    AND    I. 

had  visited  Fort  Snelling  during  the  last  days  of  June, 
expecting  to  receive  some  payment  for  land  sold.  In  this 
they  were  disappointed.  The  evening  before  they  started 
for  their  homes  —  a  part  going  up  the  Mississippi,  and  a 
part  by  the  St.  Croix  —  two  young  men  were  observed  to 
go  to  the  soldiers'  burying-ground,  near  the  fort,  and  cry. 
Their  father  had  been  killed  some  years  before  by  the 
Dakotas,  and  was  buried  there.  The  next  morning  they 
started  for  their  homes ;  but  these  two  young  men,  their 
people  not  knowing  it,  went  out  and  hid  themselves  that 
night  close  by  a  path  which  wound  around  the  shores  of 
Lake  Harriet.  In  the  early  morning  following,  a  Dakota 
hunter  walked  along  that  path,  followed  by  a  boy.  The 
man  was  shot  down,  and  the  boy  escaped  to  tell  the 
story. 

"  During  their  stay  in  the  neighborhood  of  Fort 
Snelling,  the  Ojibwas  had  smoked  and  eaten  with  the 
Dakotas.  That  scalped  man  now  lying  by  Lake  Harriet 
was  an  evidence  of  violated  faith.  The  Dakotas  were 
eager  to  take  advantage  of  the  affront.  The  cry  was  for 
vengeance ;  and  before  the  sun  had  set,  two  parties  were 
on  the  war-path. 

"  The  young  man  who  had  been  killed  was  the  son-in- 
law  of  Cloud-man,  the  chief  of  the  Lake  Calhoun  village. 
Scarlet  Bird  was  the  brother-in-law  of  the  chief.  So 
Scarlet  Bird  was  the  leader  of  the  war-party  which  came 
to  where  the  city  of  Minneapolis  is  now  built,  and  about 
the  setting  of  the  sun  crossed  over  to  the  east  side  ;  and 
there,  seating  the  warriors  in  a  row  on  the  sand,  he  dis 
tributed  the  beads  and  ribbons  and  other  trinkets  of  the 
man  who  had  been  killed,  and  with  them  "prayed"  the 
whole  party  into  committing  the  deeds  of  the  next 
morning.  The  morning's  sun,  as  it  arose,  saw  these  same 


FOKTY    YEAES    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  291 

men  smiting  down  the  Ojibwas,  just  after  they  had  left 
camp,  in  the  region  of  Rum  River.  Scarlet  Bird  was 
.iinong  the  slain  on  the  Dakota  side;  and  a  son  of  his, 
whom  he  had  goaded  into  the  battle  by  calling  him  a 
woman,  was  left  on  the  field.  Many  Ojibwa  scalps  were 
taken,  and  all  through  that  autumn  and  into  the  following- 
winter  the  scalp  dance  was  danced  nightly  at  every 
Dakota  village  on  the  Mississippi  and  Minnesota  rivers, 
as  far  up  as  Lac-qui-parle. 

"That  was  the  condition  of  things  then.  Between 
then  and  now  there  is  a  contrast.  Then  only  a  small 
government  saw-mill  stood  where  now  stand  mammoth 
mills,  running  hundreds  of  saws.  Then  only  a  soldiers' 
little  dwelling  stood  where  now  are  the  palaces  of  mer 
chant  princes.  Then  only  the  war-whoop  of  the  savage 
was  heard  where  now,  in  this  year  of  grace,  1873,  a  little 
more  than  a  third  of  a  century  after,  is  heard  the  voice  of 
praise  and  prayer  in  numerous  Christian  sanctuaries  and 
a  thousand  Christian  households.  Then  it  was  the 
gathering-place  of  the  nude  and  painted  war-party ;  now  it 
is  the  gathering-place  of  the  friends  of  the  American  Board 
of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions.  Then  the  dusky 
forms  of  the  Dakotas  flitted  by  in  the  gloaming,  bent  on 
deeds  of  blood  ;  now  the  same  race  is  here  largely  repre 
sented  by  pastors  of  native  churches  and  teachers  of  the 
white  man's  civilization  and  the  religion  of  Christ.  And 
the  marvelous  change  that  has  passed  over  this  country, 
converting  it  from  the  wild  abode  of  savages  into  the 
beautiful  land  of  Christian  habitations,  is  only  surpassed 
by  the  still  more  marvelous  change  that  has  been  wrought 
upon  those  savages  themselves.  The  greater  part  of  the 
descendants  of  the  Indians  who  once  lived  here  are  now 
in  Christian  families,  and  have  been  gathered  into  Chris- 


292  MARY    AND    I. 

tian  churches,  having  their  native  pastors.  Some,  too, 
have  gone  beyond  to  the  still  wild  portions  of  their  own 
people,  and  are  commencing  there  such  a  work  as  wo 
commenced,  nearly  forty  years  ago,  among  their  fathers 
here. 

"But  the  work  is  now  commenced  among  the  Teetons 
of  the  Missouri,  under  circumstances  vastly  different 
from  those  which  surrounded  us  in  its  beginning  here. 
Then,  with  an  unwritten  language,  imperfectly  under 
stood  and  spoken  stammeringly  by  foreigners,  the  Gospel 
was  proclaimed  to  unwilling  listeners.  Now,  with  the 
perfect  knowledge  of  the  language  learned  in  the  wig 
wam,  a  comparatively  large  company  of  native  men  and 
women  are  engaged  in  publishing  it.  Many  ears  are 
still  unwilling  to  listen,  ahd  the  hearts  of  the  wild  In 
dians  are  only  a  very  little  opened  to  the  good  news ; 
but  the  contrast  between  the  past  and  present  is  very 
great." 

While  this  meeting  of  the  American  Board  was  in 
progress,  the  ladies  of  the  Woman's  Boards  held  a 
meeting,  which  was  reported  as  full  of  interest.  So 
many  women  publishers  of  the  Word  in  all  parts  of  the 
world  were  present  that  the  enthusiasm  and  Christ- 
spirit  rose  very  high.  Nina  Foster  Riggs,  who  had  just 
arrived  from  Fort  Sully,  the  center  of  Dakota  heathen 
dom,  announced  her  wish  for  a  female  companion  in 
labor  there.  Several  young  women  present  said,  "  I 
will  go."  From  these,  Miss  Lizzie  Bishop  of  Northfield, 
Minn.,  was  afterward  selected.  Her  health  was  not 
vigorous,  but  she  and  her  friends  thought  it  might 
become  more  so  in  the  Missouri  River  climate.  She  at 
once  proceeded  with  T.  L.  Riggs  and  wife  to  Hope 


MARY   AND    I. 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  293 

Station.  There  I  met  her  for  the  first  time  in  the  first 
of  the  June  following.  She  impressed  me  as  a  singularly 
pure-minded  and  devoted  young  woman.  Two  Teeton 
boys  in  the  family  belonged  to  her  especial  charge.  She 
said  she  found  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  Dakota  too  difficult 
of  comprehension  for  their  use,  and  desired  me  to  make 
something  more  simple.  I  sat  down  and  wrote  a  child's 
prayer,  of  which  this  is  a  translation :  — 

"My  Father,  God, 

Have  mercy  on  me; 
Now  I  will  sleep  ; 
Watch  over  me : 
If  I  die  before  the  morning, 

Take  me  to  thyself. 
For  thy  Son  Jesus'  sake,  these  I  ask  of  thee." 

Miss  Bishop's  missionary  work  for  the  Teeton  Sioux  was 
soon  over.  But  I  will  let  Nina  Foster  Riggs  tell  the  story : 

"After  the  meeting  of  the  American  Board  in  Minne 
apolis,  in  October,  1873,  Miss  Elizabeth  Bishop  of 
Northfield,  Minn.,  entered  the  Dakota  work. 

"  Two  years  later,  at  the  next  western  meeting  of  the 
society,  and  during  the  session  of  the  Woman's  Board 
of  Missions,  her  death  was  announced.  Of  the  interven 
ing  twelve  months  twice  told,  it  falls  to  my  lot  to  speak, 
and  I  attempt  the  task  with  mingled  feelings,  for  I  know 
it  is  impossible  to  do  justice  to  the  beauty  of  Lizzie's 
character. 

"Young,  delicate,  already  suffering  with  a  disease 
which  made  her  to  be  over-fastidious  in  some  things, 
sensitive  to  the  discomforts  of  frontier  life,  and  inexperi 
enced  in  its  ways  of  living,  she  came  into  the  mission 
work. 


294  MAKY    AND    I. 

"These  hindrances  were  met  and  more  than  over 
balanced  by  her  singleness  of  purpose,  her  even  temper, 
her  devotion  to  her  chosen  labor,  and  her  unwavering 
trust  in  Jesus. 

"  The  first  winter  of  her  stay  at  Hope  Station,  on  the 
bank  of  the  Missouri  River,  opposite  Fort  Sully,  was  a 
winter  of  trial  and  of  danger.  Indians  had  threatened  to 
burn  the  mission  house.  Hostile  ones  crowded  about  the 
place,  the  camps  were  noisy  with  singing  and  dancing  in 
preparation  for  war-parties,  and  once  a  shot  was  fired 
into  the  house. 

"None  of  these  things  disturbed  Lizzie.  4I  do  not 
choose  to  be  killed  by  the  Indians,'  she  said,  *  but  if  the 
Lord  wills  it  so,  it  is  all  right.'  And  she  went  on  as 
usual  with  her  housework  and  her  sewing-school,  and  the 
care  of  the  two  Indian  boys  who  were  taken  into  the 
family  in  the  spring.  While  she  taught  the  sewing- 
class,  several  little  girls,  some  six  or  eight,  made  dresses 
of  linsey-woolsey  for  themselves;  and  then,  under  Miss 
Bishop's  supervision,  combed  their  hair,  bathed,  and  put 
on  clean  clothes.  She  also  instructed  several  women  in 
some  branches  of  housework,  and  was  always  looking  for 
the  opportunity  of  doing  good. 

"Very  early  in  the  winter  she  had  a  slight  hemorrhage 
from  the  lungs,  which  was  followed  by  others  more 
severe  at  intervals  through  the  summer.  But  she  still 
kept  up. 

"In  the  fall,  after  the  removal  to  another  mission 
station,  her  health  gave  way,  and  she  was  obliged  to  go 
to  the  fort  to  rest  and  recuperate.  After  her  return  she 
was  able  to  resume  only  a  part  of  her  former  work  ;  but 
she  carried  on,  with  great  enthusiasm,  the  morning  school 
for  children,  and  aided  somewhat  in  the  sewing-school. 


FORTY    YEAKS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  295 

"  Although,  as  the  spring  advanced,  her  health  failed 
more  and  more,  yet  her  courage  would  not  give  way,  and 
she  never  but  once  expressed  the  opinion  that  she  should 
not  recover.  Her  plan  had  been  to  spend  this  second 
summer  in  her  own  home,  though  sometimes  she  was 
almost  ready  to  stay  on  and  work  for  '  my  boys,'  as  she 
called  them. 

"  Finally,  she  concluded  to  go  to  Minnesota  for  the  sum 
mer,  but  made  every  arrangement  to  return  to  the  mission 
in  the  fall.  After  some  hesitation  because  of  her  delicate 
health,  she  decided  to  make  the  journey  with  our  mission 
party  overland,  down  the  country.  So  she  took  the  trip* 
enjoyed  every  day,  and  declared  she  felt  better  and  slept 
better  every  night. 

"The  party  camped  out  over  the  Sabbath,  and  on 
Monday  evening,  the  seventh  day  after  leaving  Fort 
Sully,  arrived  at  the  Yankton  agency.  Here,  at  the 
mission  home  of  our  friend  J.  P.  Williamson,  the  wel 
come  was  so  warm,  and  the  companionship  so  pleasant, 
that  Miss  Bishop  desired  to  spend  a  few  days  longer  than 
she  had  intended.  She  wanted  to  visit  the  schools,  and 
learn  both  here  and  at  Santee  agency  something  to  help 
her  when  she  should  go  back  to  teach  the  Indian  chil 
dren  on  the  Upper  Missouri.  So  she  stayed  behind,  full 
of  hope  and  zeal.  But  her  friends  parted  from  her  with 
foreboding  in  their  hearts.  In  a  few  days  she  was  again 
attacked  with  her  old  trouble ;  she  rallied  so  as  to  get  to 
her  home,  and  to  be  again  with  her  mother  and  sister. 
But  she  sank  rapidly,  and,  after  some  weeks  of  severe 
suffering,  she  entered  into  rest. 

"  Writing  of  her,  her  sister  said :  *  Her  favorite  motto 
was,  "  Simply  to  thy  cross  I  cling."  She  trusted  in  Christ 
because  he  has  promised  to  save  all  who  come  to  him. 


296  MARY    AND    I. 

She  enjoyed  hearing  us  sing  to  the  last  such  hymns  as, 
"Jesus,  Lover  of  My  Soul,"  "Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee," 
"My  Faith  Looks  up  to  Thee,"  "Father,  Whate'er  of 
Earthly  Bliss,"  "  How  Firm  a  Foundation,"  and  others.' 

"Resting  on  Him  who  is  able  to  save,  she  passed  away. 

"The  work  she  loved,  and  so  conscientiously  carried 
on,  has  fallen  to  other  hands,  but  is  not  finished  nor  lost ; 
and  in  the  homes  she  helped  to  make  happy  she  is  missed, 
yet  her  memory  is  an  abiding  presence,  cheering  and 
encouraging. 

"  '  And  a  book  of  remembrance  was  written  before  him 
for  them  that  feared  the  Lord,  and  that  thought  upon  his 
name.  And  they  shall  be  mine,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts, 
in  that  day  when  I  make  up  my  jewels.'  *  " 
.  The  commencement  of  the  Manual  Labor  Boarding- 
School  on  the  Sisseton  reserve  was  an  event  which  in 
dicated  progress.  Agent  M.  N.  Adams  had  received 
authority  from  the  department  to  erect  a  suitable  build 
ing.  On  the  4th  of  September,  1873,  the  foundation 
walls  were  so  far  completed  that  the  corner-stone  was  laid 
with  appropriate  ceremonies.  There  was  quite  a  gather 
ing  of  the  natives  and  white  people  on  the  reservation. 
After  prayer  in  Dakota  by  Pastor  Solomon,  Mr.  Adams 
made  a  speech,  which  was  interpreted,  setting  forth  the 
advantages  that  would  accrue  to  this  people  from  .such  a 
school  as  this  building  contemplated.  He  then  announced 

*  Mention  should  be  made  here  of  Rev.  Samuel  Ingham  and  his 
wife,  who  joined  the  missionary  force  at  Santee  immediately  after 
the  meeting  of  the  Board  at  Minneapolis.  Mr.  Ingham  was  suffer 
ing  at  the  time  from  what  was  considered  a  temporary  malady,  but 
which  proved  serious  and  ended  his  life  Dec.  27,  1873.  Mrs. 
Ingham  continued  in  her  work  in  the  "Dakota  Home,"  the  new 
school  for  girls. 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  297 

that  he  had  in  his  hands  copies  of  the  Bible  in  Dakota 
and  English,  and  a  Dakota  hymn  book,  together  with 
eight  numbers  of  the  lapi  Oaye,  a  copy  of  the  St.  Paid 
Press,  and  a  Yankton  paper,  and  also  sundry  docu 
ments,  all  of  which  he  deposited  in  the  place  prepared 
for  them.  I  added  a  few  remarks,  and  then  the  corner 
stone  was  laid  and  pronounced  level.  Speeches  followed 
from  Solomon,  John  B.,  and  Daniel  Renville,  pastors; 
Miid  from  Robert  Hopkins,  Two  Stars,  and  Gabriel  Ren 
ville.  They  accepted  this  as  the  guarantee  of  progress  in 
the  new  era  on  which  they  had  entered. 

That  autumn  the  boarding-school  was  commenced. 
As  only  a  part  of  the  building  could  be  made  habitable 
for  the  winter,  the  girls  alone  were  placed  there,  under 
the  care  and  teaching  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Armor.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Morris  took  the  boys  and  cared  for  them,  in  very 
close  quarters,  at  the  mission,  only  a  little  way  off.  In 
the  summer  of  1874  there  appeared  in  the  Word  Car 
rier  articles  on  "  Our  Girls,"  and  "  Our  Boys,"  written 
by  Mrs.  Armor  and  Mrs.  Morris,  respectively.  In  each 
department  they  had  about  sixteen.  Mrs.  Armor  classed 
her  scholars  as  large  girls,  little  girls,  and  very  little  girls. 
That  first  year  was  a  good  beginning  of  the  school. 

Mrs.  Morris  was  willing  to  undertake  the  hard  work 
these  sixteen  boys  imposed  upon  her,  because  she  had  just 
met  with  a  great  sorrow.  She  had  gone  on  East  with  tico 
children,  and  came  back  with  only  one.  "  As  I  sit  and 
mend,"  she  writes,  "  the  alarming  holes  which  the  boys 
make  in  their  clothes,  an  unbidden  tear  sometimes  falls 
when  I  think  of  our  blue-eyed,  sunny-haired  boy,  whose 
last  resting-place  is  in  the  valley  of  the  Susquehanna. 
And  I  think  how  much  rather  I  would  have  worked  for 
him  than  for  these  boys.  But  I  say  to  myself,  '  My  dar- 


298  MARY    AND    I. 

ling  is  safe  and  out  of  reach  of  harm '  /  and  these  boys 
need  the  doing  for  that  my  darling  one  will  never  need 
more.  For 

"  '  Mine  in  God's  garden  runs  to  and  fro, 
And  that  is  best.' 

And  I  know  that  somehow  the  Lord  knows  what  is  best ; 
and  he  does  as  he  will  with  his  own." 

In  the  early  spring  of  1874,  I  was  requested  jointly  by 
the  American  Board  and  the  American  Missionary  Asso 
ciation  to  visit  and  report  upon  various  Indians  agencies, 
where  their  appointees,  or  nominees  rather,  were  agents. 
Accordingly,  I  started  in  the  month  of  May,  by  St.  Paul, 
on  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad,  to  Bismarck,  and  thence 
by  steamboat  up  the  Missouri  to  Fort  Berthold.  At  this 
time  Major  L.  B.  Sperry,  who  had  been  a  professor  in 
Ripon  College,  was  the  nominee  of  the  American  Mis 
sionary  Association.  It  was  not  my  good  fortune  to  find 
Agent  Sperry  at  home,  but  Mrs.  Sperry,  in  a  very  lady 
like  way,  gave  me  the  best  accommodations  during  the 
week  I  remained. 

Here  were  gathered  the  remnant  of  the  Mandans,  only 
a  few  hundred  persons,  and  the  Rees,  or  Arricarees,  a  part 
of  the  Pawnee  tribe,  and  the  Gros  Ventres,  or  Mirmetaree, 
properly  the  Hidatsa.  Altogether  they  numbered  about 
two  thousand  souls.  We  had  before  this  entertained  the 
desire  that  we  might  be  able  to  establish  a  mission  among 
these  people,  and  this  thought  or  hope  gave  interest  to 
my  visit.  The  Mnndan  and  the  Hidatsa  languages  were 
both  pretty  closely  connected  with  the  Dakota ;  but  what 
seemed  to  bring  these  nearer  to  us  was  the  fact  that  many 
of  all  these  people  could  understand  and  talk  the  Dakota, 
that  forming  a  kind  of  common  language  for  them. 


FORTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          299 

Howard  Mandan,  or  "  The-man-with-a-scared-face" 
as  his  Indian  name  is  interpreted,  was  the  son  of  Red  Cow, 
the  principal  chief  of  the  Mandans,  and  had  been  taken 
down  by  Gen.  C.  H.  Howard,  a  year  before,  and 
placed  in  A.  L.  Riggs'  school  at  Santee.  Howard  had 
returned  home  before  my  visit,  and  also  Henry  Eaton,  a 
Hidatsa  young  man,  who  had  been  East  a  good  many 
years  and  talked  English  well. 

George  Catlin  had,  many  years  ago,  interested  us  in 
the  Mandans,  by  his  effort  to  prove,  from  their  red  hair 
in  some  cases  —  perhaps  only  redded  hair —  and  in  some 
instances  blue  eyes,  and  the  resemblances  which  he  claims 
to  have  found  in  their  languages,  that  they  were  the  de 
scendants  of  a  Welsh  colony  that  had  dropped  out  of 
history  a  thousand  years  ago.  And  Dr.  Washington 
Matthews  of  the  United  States  Army  had  created  in  us 
a  desire  to  do  something  for  the  spiritual  enlightenment 
of  the  Hidatsa,  by  his  admirable  grammar  and  dictionary 
of  their  language.  In  his  introduction  to  this  book  he 
gives  us  much  valuable  information  about  the  people. 

Hidatsa,  he  tells  us,  is  the  name  by  which  they  call 
themselves.  They  are  better  known  to  us  by  the  names 
Minnetaree  and  Gros  "Ventre.  This  last  is  a  name  given 
them  by  the  Canadian  French,  and  without  any  special 
reason.  It  is  a  fact  that  Indians  can  eat  large  quantities 
of  food,  but  it  is  very  rarely  indeed  that  you  will  find  one 
whose  appearance  would  justify  the  epithet  gros  ventre. 
The  other  term,  Minnetaree,  is  the  name  given  them  by 
the  Mandans,  and  means,  to  cross  the  water.  The  story 
is  that  when  the  Hidatsa  people  came  to  the  Missouri 
River  from  the  north-east,  the  Mandan  village  was  on  the 
west  side  of  the  river.  They  called  over,  and  the  Man- 
dans  answered  back  in  their  own  language  :  "  Who  are 


300  MARY    AND   I. 

you  ?  "  The  Hidatsa,  not  understanding  it,  supposed  they 
had  asked,  "  What  do  you  want  ?  "  and  so  replied  ;  "Minne- 
taree,  to  cross  over  the  water" 

Whence  came  the  Hidatsa?  Their  legend  says  they 
originally  lived  under  a  great  body  of  water  which  lies 
far  to  the  north-east  of  where  they  now  live.  From  this 
under-water  residence  some  persons  found  their  way  out, 
and,  discovering  a  country  much  better  than  the  one  in 
which  they  lived,  returned  and  gave  to  their  people  such 
glowing  accounts  of  their  discoveries  that  the  whole 
nation  determined  to  come  out.  But,  owing  to  the  break 
ing  of  a  tree  on  which  they  were  climbing  out  of  the  lake, 
a  great  part  of  the  tribe  had  to  remain  behind  in  the 
water,  and  they  are  there  yet. 

This  is  very  much  like  the  myth  of  another  tribe,  who 
lived  under  the  ground  by  a  lake.  A  large  grape-vine 
sent  its  tap-root  through  the  crust  of  the  earth,  and  by 
that  they  commenced  to  climb  out.  But  a  very  fat 
woman  taking  hold  of  the  vine,  it  broke,  and  the  remain 
der  were  doomed  to  stay  where  they  were.  Do  such 
legends  contain  any  reference  to  the  great  Deluge  ? 

After  the  Hidatsa  came  up,  they  commenced  a  series  of 
wanderings  over  the  prairies.  During  their  migrations 
they  were  often  ready  to  die  of  hunger,  but  were  always 
rescued  by  the  interference  of  their  deity.  It  was  not 
manna  rained  down  around  their  camp,  but  the  stones  of 
the  prairie  were  miraculously  changed  into  buffalo,  which 
they  killed  and  ate.  After  some  time  they  sent  couriers 
to  the  south,  who  came  back  with  the  news  that  they 
had  found  a  great  river  and  a  fertile  valley,  wherein 
dwelt  a  people  who  lived  in  houses  and  tilled  the  ground. 
They  brought  back  corn  and  other  products  of  the  coun 
try.  To  this  beautiful  and  good  land  the  tribe  now 


FOKTY    YEARS   WITH    THE    SIOUX.  301 

directed  their  march,  and,  guided  by^  their  messengers 
they  reached  the  Mandan  villages  on  the  Missouri  River. 
With  them  they  camped  and  learned  their  peaceful  arts, 

Dr.  Matthews  says  they  have  a  tradition  that  during 
these  years  of  wandering  the  Genius  of  the  Sun  took  up 
one  of  the  Hidatsa  maidens,  and  their  offspring  came 
back,  and,  under  the  name  of  Grand-Child,  was  the  great 
prophet  and  teacher  of  his  mother's  people.  Can  that 
have  any  reference  to  the  "  Son  of  Man"? 

These  Indians,  the  Mandan s,  the  Hidatsa,  and  the  Rees, 
live  in  one  village  at  Berthold,  in  all  numbering  some 
thing  over  two  thousand ;  and  they  have  lived  together, 
as  we  know,  more  than  a  hundred  years,  and  yet  the  lan 
guages  are  kept  perfectly  distinct  and  separate.  Many 
of  them  learn  each  other's  language  ;  and  many  of  them 
talk  Dakota  also.  "Many  years  ago  they  were  consid 
ered  ripe  for  the  experiments  of  civilization  ;  they  stand 
to-day  just  as  fit  subjects  as  ever  for  the  experiment, 
which  never  lias  been,  and  possibly  never  will  be,  tried." 
This  is  Dr.  Matthews'  statement.  Let  us  hope  that  the 
latter  part  may  not  be  prophetic. 

"  They  worship  a  deity,"  says  Dr.  Matthews,  "whom 
they  call  «  The  First  Made  '  or  '  The  First  Existence.' " 
Sometimes  they  speak  of  him  as  "  The  Old  Man  Immor 
tal."  They  believe  in  shades  or  ghosts,  which  belong  not 
only  to  men,  but  to  animals  and  trees  and  everything. 

"  In  the  '  next  world '  human  shades  hunt  and  live  on 
the  shades  of  the  buffalo  and  other  animals  who  have 
lived  here.  Whether  the  shade  of  the  buffalo  then 
ceases  to  exist  or  not,  I  could  find  none  prepared  to  tell 
me ;  but  they  seem  to  have  a  dim  faith  in  shades  of 
shades,  and  in  shadow-lands  of  shade-lands  ;  belief  in  a 
shadowy  immortality  being  the  basis  of  their  creed." 


302  MARY    AND   I. 

By  all  these  me^ns  our  interest  in  Fort  Berthold  and 
its  people  grew,  and  we  became  impatient  of  delay.  But 
step  by  step  we  were  led  by  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  until 
at  the  meeting  of  the  American  Board  in  Chicago  in  the 
autumn  of  1875,  after  an  animated  discussion  on  Indian 
Missions,  and  the  debt  of  the  Board  was  lifted  by  a 
special  effort,  Secretary  S.  B.  Treat  arose  and  said : 
"  We  are  ready  to  send  a  man  to  Fort  Berthold."  The 
man  and  the  woman,  Charles  L.  Hall  and  Emma  Cal- 
houn,  were  ready,  and  the  next  spring  they  were  com 
missioned  to  make  their  home  among  the  Mandans, 
Arickarees  and  Hidatsa. 

On  leaving  Berthold  in  May,  1874,  I  proceeded  down 
the  Missouri  to  Bismarck,  where  I  was  subjected  to  con 
siderable  delay;  and  then  stopping  a  few  days  with 
Thomas  at  Hope  Station,  and  making  a  short  call  at  the 
Yankton  agency,  I  went  to  the  San  tee  to  attend  our 
annual  meeting  of  the  Dakota  Conference,  which  com 
menced  its  sessions  with  the  Pilgrim  Church  on  the  18th 
of  June. 

A.  L.  Riggs  had  put  up  in  large  characters  the  motto 
of  the  meeting  — 1834-1874.  Thus  we  were  reminded 
that  forty  years  had  passed  since  the  brothers  Pond  had 
made  their  log  cabin  on  the  banks  of  Lake  Calhoun. 
These  gray-headed  men  were  expected  to  have  been 
present  on  this  occasion,  but  were  not.  T.  L.  Riggs  and 
wife  could  not  come  down.  Otherwise  the  attendance  of 
whites  and  Indians  was  good.  The  presence  of  Rev. 
Joseph  Ward  of  Yankton,  and  of  Mrs.  Wood,  the 
mother  of  Mrs.  Ward,  and  also  of  Rev.  De  Witt  Clark 
of  Massachusetts,  greatly  added  to  the  interest.  The 
question  discussed  by  the  native  brethren  with  the  most 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  303 

eagerness  was,  "Shall  the  eldership  receive  any  money 
compensation?"  This  had  come  up  to  be  a  question 
solely  because  such  native  church  helpers  were  receiving 
compensation  among  the  Episcopalians.  But  our  folks 
decided  against  it  by  an  overwhelming  vote. 

So  full  an  account  has  been  given  of  the  like  meeting 
held  a  year  previous,  that  this,  which  was  in  most  re 
spects  equally  interesting,  may  be  passed  over.  Of  the 
school  here  during  the  winter  past,  the  Word  Carrier 
had  contained  this  notice :  "  The  Normal  School  of  the 
Dakota  Mission  at  Santee  agency  has  had  a  prosperous 
winter  session,  notwithstanding  the  dark  days  last  fall, 
when  its  doors  were  closed,  and  many  of  its  former 
pupils  removed  beyond  the  reach  of  earthly  training  by 
the  small-pox."  The  whole  number  of  scholars  for  the 
winter  three  months  was  eighty-five. 

After  this  meeting  closed,  I  spent  six  weeks  with  the 
churches  in  my  own  part  of  the  field  on  the  Sisseton 
reservation.  I  found  the  people  at  Ascension  church, 
J.  B.  Renville  pastor,  in  the  midst  of  church  building. 
Their  log  church  had  become  too  small,  and  they  had  for 
a  year  been  preparing  to  build  a  larger  and  better  house 
of  worship.  Mr.  Adams  took  a  great  interest  in  this 
enterprise,  and  helped  them  much  by  obtaining  contribu 
tions  and  otherwise.  The  Dakota  men  and  women  also 
took  hold  of  it  as  their  own  work,  and  the  house  went 
up,  and  was  so  far  finished  before  the  winter  that  its 
dedication  took  place  about  the  middle  of  December. 
The  cost  of  the  house  was  then  given  at  $1500.  Two  or 
three  hundred  more  were  afterward  used  in  its  internal 
completion.  This  was  a  great  step  forward.  Dakota 
Christians  build,  with  but  little  help,  their  own  house  of 
worship  ! 


304  MARY    AND    I. 

About  the  middle  of  August  I  left  Sisseton  to  com 
plete  my  work  of  visiting  Indian  agencies,  which  I  had 
undertaken  to  do  for  the  American  Missionary  Associa 
tion.  At  St.  Paul  I  was  joined  by  Rev.  Edward  Pay- 
son  Wheeler,  who  was  just  from  Andover  Seminary. 
He  was  the  son  of  the  missionary  Wheeler  who  had 
spent  his  life  with  the  Ojibwas,  at  Bad  River.  He  had 
learned  the  language  in  his  boyhood,  and  I  was  only  too 
happy  to  have  as  my  companion  of  the  journey  one  who 
was  at  home  among  the  Ojibwas. 

From  St.  Paul  we  went  up  the  Lake  Superior  Road 
until  we  reached  the  Northern  Pacific,  on  which  we 
traveled  westward  to  Brainerd,  and  then  took  stage 
seventy  miles  to  Leech  Lake.  There  we  found  white 
friends  arid  Ojibwas,  to  whom  we  preached,  Mr.  Wheeler 
trying  the  language  he  had  not  used  for  years.  We  then 
proceeded  by  private  conveyance,  over  a  miserable  road 
through  the  pine  woods,  to  Red  Lake.  Rev.  Mr.  Spees 
and  wife,  who  were  there  doing  work  under  the  Ameri 
can  Missionary  Association,  and  Agent  Pratt  received  us 
kindly.  My  friend  Wheeler  talked  with  the  Indians  — 
the  old  men  remembered  his  father,  and  seemed  to  warm 
very  much  toward  the  son.  It  appeared  to  me  that 
there  was  a  grand  opening  for  an  educational  work  and 
preaching  the  Gospel.  When  we  left  Red  Lake,  I  fully 
believed  that  E.  P.  Wheeler  would  return  there  as  a 
missionary  before  the  snow  fell.  But  I  was  disap 
pointed.  The  American  Missionary  Association  was 
heavily  in  debt,  and  had  no  disposition  whatever  to 
enlarge  work  among  the  Indians. 

We  then  returned  by  the  way  we  came,  and  went  on 
to  Duluth,  where  we  took  a  steamer  on  the  Gitche 
Gumme  (Lake  Superior)  for  Bayfield.  On  the  down- 


FORTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          305 

lake  steamer  we  formed  the  acquaintance  of  Rev.  John 
McDougall,  a  Methodist  minister,  who,  with  his  family, 
was  going  to  the  Canadian  Conference,  from  the  far-off 
country  of  the  Saskatchawan.  For  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  century  he  had  been  a  missionary  among  the  Crees 
and  Bloods  and  Piegans. 

But  what  interested  me  most  was  the  account  he  gave 
of  a  small  band  of  about  seven  hundred  Indians  called 
Stoneys.  They  talk  the  Dakota  language,  and,  as  their 
name  indicates,  they  are  evidently  a  branch  of  the  Assin- 
aboines. 

The  name  Assinaboine  means  Stone  Sioux,  and  is  a 
compound  of  French  and  Ojibwa.  The  last  part  is  Bwan, 
which  is  the  name  the  Ojibwas  give  the  Dakotas  or 
Sioux. 

These  Stoneys  are  said  to  be  all  Christians.  They 
have  their  school-house  and  church,  and  Rev.  John 
McDougall,  son  of  the  old  gentleman,  is  their  missionary. 
They  live  on  Bow  River,  which,  I  suppose,  is  a  branch  of 
the  Saskatchawan,  about  two  hundred  miles  north-west 
from  Fort  Benton,  and  one  hundred  north  of  the  Canada 
line.  To  us  who  labor  among  the  Dakotas,  it  is  very 
cheering  to  know  that  this  small  outlier  of  the  fifty 
thousand  Dakota-speaking  people  have  all  received  the 
Gospel.  We  clap  our  hands  for  joy. 

Landing  at  Bayfield,  we  were  kindly  received  by  the 
Indian  agent  Dr.  Isaac  Mali  an. 

Nestled  among  the  hills,  and  looking  out  into  the  bay 
filled  with  the  Apostle  Islands,  this  town  has  rather  a 
romantic  position.  And  just  out  a  little  way,  on  Mag 
dalen  Island,  is  La  Pointe,  the  old  mission  station. 
We  passed  around  it  in  a  sail-boat  on  our  way  to 
Odanah. 


306  MARY   AND  I. 

Very  soon  after  reaching  Bayfield,  we  found  a  boat 
going  over  to  Odanah,  which,  I  understand,  is  the  Ojib- 
wa  for  town  or  village,  and  which  is  the  name  by  which 
the  mission  station  on  Bad  River  has  long  been  known. 
As  I  entered  the  boat,  Mr.  Wheeler  introduced  me  to 
the  Ojibwa  men  who  were  to  take  us  over.  When  I 
shook  hands  with  one  of  them,  he  said,  "  My  father,  Mr. 
Riggs."  Was  he  calling  me  his  father,  or  was  it  the 
Indian  ?  I  wondered  which,  but  asked  no  questions. 
Two  or  three  days  after,  I  learned  that  adoption  was  one 
of  the  Ojibwa  customs,  and  that  when  Mr.  Wheeler  was 
a  little  boy  this  man  lost  his  boy.  He  came  to  the  mis 
sion  and  said  to  the  missionary,  "  My  boy  is  gone ;  you 
have  a  great  many  boys;  let  me  call  this  one  mine." 
And  so  they  said  he  might  so  call  him ;  and  from  that 
time  Edward  Payson  Wheeler  became  the  adopted  child 
of  an  Ojibwa. 

Now,  after  he  had  been  gone  ten  years,  going  away  a 
boy  and  coming  back  a  man,  they  all  seemed  to  regard 
him  like  a  son  and  a  brother.  It  was  very  interesting 
for  me  to  see  how  they  all  warmed  toward  him.  They 
came  to  see  him,  and  wanted  him  to  go  to  their  houses. 
They  all  wanted  to  talk  with  him ;  and  when  we  came  to 
leave,  they  all  flocked  to  the  mission  to  shake  hands,  and 
to  have  a  last  word  and  a  prayer ;  and  they  gave  him 
more  muckoks  of  manomin  (wild  rice)  than  he  could 
bring  away  with  him. 

For  four  days  we  were  the  guests  of  the  boarding- 
school  which  is  in  charge  of  Rev.  Isaac  Baird.  We  be 
came  much  interested  in  the  school  and  the  teachers  — 
Mrs.  Baird,  Miss  Harriet  Newell  Phillips,  Miss  Verbeek, 
Miss  Dougherty,  and  Miss  Walker.  Naturally,  I  should 
be  prejudiced  in  favor  of  the  Dakotas,  but  I  was  obliged 


FORTY  YEAKS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          307 

to  confess  that  I  had  not  seen  anywhere  twenty-five  boys 
and  girls  better-looking  and  more  manly  and  womanly  in 
their  appearance  than  those  Ojibwas.  The  whole  com 
munity  gave  evidence  of  the  good  work  done  by  the 
school  in  past  years  —  many  of  the  grown  folks  being 
able  to  talk  English  quite  well. 

But  there  was  one  impression  that  came  to  me  without 
bidding  —  it  was  that  civilization  had  been  pressed  farther 
and  faster  than  evangelization.  While  houses  and  other 
improvements  attested  a  great  deal  of  labor  expended, 
the  native  church  is  quite  small,  only  now  numbering 
about  twenty-eight,  and  the  metawa^  their  sacred  heathen 
dance,  was  danced  while  we  were  there,  within  a  stone' s- 
throw  of  the  church.  My  spirit  was  stirred  within  me, 
and  I  said  to  the  members  of  that  native  church  that 
they  ought  so  to  take  up  the  work  of  evangelizing  their 
own  people  in  good  earnest  that  the  dancing  of  the 
metawa  thus  publicly  would  become  an  impossibility. 

My  visit  to  various  points  in  the  Ojibwa  country  has 
interested  me  very  greatly.  From  what  I  have  seen  and 
heard,  the  conviction  grew  upon  me  that  the  whole 
Ojibwa  field,  comprising  thirteen  or  fourteen  thousand 
people  in  the  States  of  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota,  is  now 
open  to  the  Gospel  as  it  never  has  been  before.  The 
old  laborers  sowed  the  good  seed,  but  they  saw  little 
fruit.  No  wonder  they  became  discouraged.  For  years 
the  field  was  almost  entirely  given  up.  But,  although 
the  servants  retired,  the  Master  watched  the  work,  and 
here  and  there  the  seed  has  taken  root  and  sprung  up. 
This  appears  in  the  new  desire  prevailing  that  they  may 
again  have  schools  and  missionaries.  Shall  we  not  take 
advantage  of  this  favorable  time  to  tell  them,  of  Jesus  the 
Saviour  ? 


CHAPTER  XX. 

1875-1876.  —  Annual  Meeting  of  1875.  —  Homestead  Settlement  on 
the  Big  Sioux.  —  Interest  of  the  Conference.  —  lapi  Oaye.  — 
Inception  of  Native  Missionary  Work.  —  Theological  Class.  — 
The  Dakota  Home.  —  Charles  L.  Hall  Ordained.  —Dr.  Magoun 
of  Iowa.  —  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hall  Sent  to  Berthold  by  the  Ameri 
can  Board.  —  The  Word  Carrier's  Good  Words  to  Them.  — 
The  Conference  of  1876.  —In  J.  B.  Renville's  Church.  —  Com 
ing  to  the  Meeting  from  Sully.  —  Miss  Whipple's  Story. — 
"  Dakota  Missionary  Society." — Miss  Collins'  Story. — Im 
pressions  of  the  Meeting. 

MORE  and  more  the  important  events  of  the  year  cul 
minate  in,  and  are  brought  out  by,  the  meeting  of  our 
Annual  Conference.  Heretofore  this  gathering  had  been 
in  June.  In  the  year  1875,  it  was  held  in  September,  at 
the  Homestead  Settlement  on  the  Big  Sioux.  Only  four 
years  had  passed  since  we  were  here  before,  but  in  this 
time  great  changes  had  taken  place.  They  had  erected  a 
log  church,  and  outgrown  it,  and  sold  it  to  the  government 
for  a  school-house,  and  had  just  completed,  or  nearly  com 
pleted,  a  commodious  frame  building.  In  this  our  meet 
ings  were  held.  Their  farms  and  dwelling-houses  had 
also  greatly  improved.  In  several  of  these  years  they 
had  been  visited  by  the  grasshoppers,  and  by  this  visita 
tion  they  had  lost  their  crops.  But  they  held  on  —  some 
what  discouraged,  it  is  true.  When  their  prospects  and 
hopes  from  Mother  Earth  failed,  they  went  to  hunting, 
and  thus  they  had  worked  along.  This  year  they  had  a 
fair  crop,  and  by  exerting  themselves  they  were  able  to 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  309 

entertain  more  than  a  hundred  Dakota  guests.  Besides 
what  they  could  furnish  from  their  own  farms,  they  had 
raised  about  $70  in  money,  which  they  expended  in 
fresh  beef.  Thus  they  made  princely  provision  for  the 
meeting,  which  was,  as  usual,  rich  and  full  of  interest. 

Our  Conference  meetings  began  on  the  afternoon  of 
Thursday,  Sept.  16,  and  by  that  time  we  were  all  on  the 
ground  and  ready.  We  had  journeyed,  camping  by  the 
way,  some  over  from  the  Missouri  and  others  down  from 
the  head  of  the  Coteau.  The  native  delegates  and  visit 
ors  were  encamped  by  the  river-side,  convenient  to  wood 
and  water  and  the  place  of  meeting.  The  missionaries 
pitched  their  tents  by  the  house  and  enjoyed  the  hospi 
tality  of  P.  A.  Vannice  and  his  good  wife. 

At  the  time  appointed  we  gathered  at  the  church  and 
had  a  sermon  by  one  of  the  native  pastors  —  Louis. 
Then  came  the  business  organization,  followed  by  short 
speeches  of  greeting  and  welcome.  On  the  following  day 
the  real  work  of  the  Conference  began.  Questions  relat 
ing  to  the  proper  training  and  education  of  children,  and 
the  training  and  preparation  needful  for  the  ministry,  were 
discussed  with  interest  and  profit.  The  next  day,  which 
was  Saturday,  was  taken  up  in  the  discussion  of  two  prom 
inent  subjects  of  interest  —  the  homestead  act  in  its  rela 
tion  to  Indians,  and  our  Dakota  paper.  On  the  first  of 
these  topics  there  was  a  full  and  healthy  expression  of 
opinion.  It  was  said  that  the  plan  of  depending  on  the 
government  for  support  tended  to  bad.  Said  Ehnamane  : 
"  If  when  we  are  hungry  we  cry  out  to  our  Great  Father 
c  Give  us  food,'  or  when  we  are  cold  we  say,  '  Send  us 
clothes,'  we  become  as  little  children  —  we  are  not  men. 
Here  at  this  place  we  see  that  each  man  takes  care  of 
himself ;  he  has  a  farm  and  a  house,  and  some  have  a  cow 


310  MARY    AND    I. 

and  a  few  chickens.  We  go  into  their  houses  and  we  see 
tables  and  chairs,  and  when  they  eat  they  spread  a  cloth 
over  the  table,  as  do  white  people,  and  there  are  curtains 
to  the  windows,  and  we  see  the  women  dressed  like  white 
women  —  here  we  find  men.  We  who  look  to  the  gov 
ernment  for  food  and  clothing  are  not  men  but  little  chil 
dren,  and  the  longer  we  depend  on  the  government  the 
lower  down  we  find  ourselves."  Others  differed  :  they 
said  one  could  grow  into  manhood  anywhere  supported 
by  the  government  or  caring  for  themselves.  Besides,  it 
would  not  do  to  be  too  confident.  It  was  hard  work  to 
strike  out  alone ;  some  had  starved,  some  had  been  frozen 
to  death,  and  others  had  turned  back.  It  means  work  to 
become  a  self-supporting  citizen. 

Perhaps  there  was  as  much  real  feeling  expressed  when 
the  lapi  Oaye  was  discussed  as  at  any  other  time  during 
Conference.  Last  year  it  was  hoped  that  by  another  year 
the  paper  would  become  self-sustaining.  Owing  to  sev 
eral  reasons,  however,  the  subscription  receipts  for  the 
past  year  are  very  much  smaller  than  for  the  year  previous, 
necessitating  the  meeting  of  a  considerable  deficiency  by 
the  missionaries  themselves.  It  was  thought  best  for 
our  native  membership  to  know  the  facts  in  order  to 
stimulate  action,  lest  we  be  obliged  to  discontinue  the 
paper.  However,  they  would  listen  to  nothing  of  that 
kind. 

The  paper  has  so  strong  a  hold  on  the  people  as  to  be 
almost  a  necessity,  and  thereby  a  means  of  great  and 
growing  good.  Sabbath  morning  was  devoted  to  com 
munion  services,  and  the  113  native  delegates  and  visitors 
from  other  stations  united  with  their  brothers  at  Flandreau 
around  the  table  of  our  Lord. 

In  the  afternoon  we  had  a  grand  missionary  meeting, 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  311 

which  was  the  closing  of  the  Conference.  Speeches  were 
made  by  the  fathers  in  the  mission  and  by  the  older  na 
tive  membership,  contrasting  the  darkness  of  the  past 
with  the  light  of  the  present.  It  seemed,  as  we  listened 
to  the  words  of  joy  and  thanksgiving  spoken  by  those  who 
have  come  up  from  heathenism,  that  the  cup  of  joy  and 
gladness  must  be  full  to  overflowing  for  the  fathers  of 
our  mission,  who  went  through  the  great  trials  and  dan 
gers  of  early  days,  and  who  are  permitted  to  look  upon 
the  wonderful  success  of  their  lives  spent  thus  in  the 
Master's  service. 

The  last  topic  discussed  had  somewhat  of  a  history. 
Some  time  during  the  year  before,  it  had  been  published 
that  the  American  Board  had  great-grandchildren.  The 
mission  to  the  Sandwich  Islands  had  commenced  Christian 
work  on  the  Marquesas,  and  they  again  had  extended  it 
to  other  islands.  In  an  article  which  Dr.  Williamson 
furnished  to  the  lapi  Oaye,  under  the  heading  of  "  Chil 
dren  and  Grandchildren,"  he  recited  these  facts.  A 
month  or  two  afterward,  I  wrote  an  article  on  the  "  Chil 
dren  of  Grandchildren,"  in  which  I  said  I  was  thankful 
for  children,  but  wanted  grandchildren. 

These  statements  worked  like  leaven  in  some  of  the 
natives'  minds.  David  Gray  Cloud,  who  opened  the  sub 
ject  of  missionary  work  to  be  undertaken  by  the  native 
churches,  had  been  stimulated  thereby.  The  whole 
assembly  seemed  to  be  ready  to  take  the  first  steps  in 
the  organization  of  a  native  Foreign  Mission  Society. 
A  committee  was  appointed  for  that  object,  consisting 
of  J.  P.  Williamson,  A.  L.  Riggs,  John  B.  Renville, 
Robert  Hopkins,  and  Iron  Track.  In  the  meantime,  the 
churches  were  exhorted  to  take  up  collections  for  the 
Foreign  Mission  Fund. 


312  MARY    AND    I. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1876,  at  the  Santee 
agency,  in  connection  with  the  mission  training  school, 
a  theological  class  was  organized. 

For  a  few  years  past  we  have  been  realizing  more  and 
more  the  want  of  a  higher  education  in  our  native  pas 
tors  and  preachers.  To  supply  this  defect,  and  prepare 
the  young  men  who  are  coming  up  to  the  work  to  fill  the 
places  of  the  fathers  with  a  higher  grade  of  scholarship, 
and  especially  with  a  more  thorough  knowledge  and  ap 
preciation  of  Bible  truth,  this  plan  was  undertaken.  It 
is  only  a  beginning. 

The  regular  class  consisted  of  John  Eastman,  Eli  Abra 
ham,  Albert  Frazier,  Henry  Tawa,  Peter  Eyoodooze,  and 
Solomon  Chante,  with  Rev.  Artemas  Ehnamarie,  the  pas 
tor  of  the  Santee  church.  Some  others  have  been  in 
attendance  on  evening  exercises. 

The  object  has  been  to  give  them  as  much  knowledge 
and  training  as  could  be  imparted  and  received  in  the 
limited  space  of  four  weeks,  in  Bible  geography  and  his 
tory,  in  the  main  doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith,  in  the 
best  methods  of  teaching  Bible  truth,  the  founding  and 
growth  of  the  Christian  Church,  in  its  orders  of  laborers, 
in  its  ordinances,  in  its  service,  and  in  its  benevolent  and 
saving  work. 

For  the  first  two  weeks  of  the  term  A.  L.  Riggs  was 
assisted  by  Rev.  J.  P.  Williamson,  from  the  Yankton 
agency,  wrhich  is  the  home  of  three  of  the  young  men 
attending  the  class. 

I  had  received  an  urgent  invitation  to  come  on  from 
Beloit  to  aid  in  the  instructions  of  the  last  two  weeks, 
which  I  quite  willingly  accepted.  While  at  the  Santee 
on  this  visit,  I  became  better  acquainted  with  the  work 
ing  of  the  normal  school,  and  especially  of  that  part  of  it 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  313 

called  the  "  Dakota  Home."    The  following  is  A.  L.  Riggs' 
description  of  it :  — 

"  The  Dakota  Home  is  one  of  a  group  of  buildings  for 
educational  purposes  belonging  to  the  Dakota  Mission,  at 
their  principal  educational  center,  Santee  agency,  Ne 
braska.  It  was  built  by  the  funds  of  the  Woman's  Board 
of  Missions,  at  a  cost  of  about  $4200.  It  was  commenced 
in  1872,  but  not  completely  finished  until  1874,  although 
it  has  been  in  use  from  the  first. 

"  It  is  a  large,  well  proportioned  frame-building,  two 
stories  high,  and  forty-two  by  forty-eight  feet  on  the 
ground.  On  the  first  floor  is  the  teachers'  suite  of  rooms, 
the  large  dining-hall,  which  is  also  sewing  and  sitting- 
room  for  the  girls,  the  Home  kitchen,  and  the  necessary 
pantries  and  closets.  Underneath  is  the  commodious 
cellar  and  milk-room. 

"In  the  second  story  are  the  dormitories.  There  are 
ten  sleeping-rooms  and  a  bath-room.  Each  room  is  in 
tended  to  be  occupied  by  only  two  girls,  though  three  of 
them  can  accommodate  four,  if  necessary.  Every  sleep 
ing-room  is  automatically  and  thoroughly  ventilated  with 
out  opening  a  door  or  window." 

The  object  of  the  Dakota  Home  is  to  train  up  house 
keepers  for  the  future  Dakota  homes.  Hence  our  effort 
is  to  train  them  into  the  knowledge  and  habit  of  all  home 
work,  and  to  instil  in  them  the  principles  of  right  action, 
and  cultivate  self-discipline. 

They  learn  to  cook  and  wash,  sew  and  cut  garments, 
weave,  knit,  milk,  make  butter,  make  beds,  sweep  floors, 
and  anything  else  pertaining  to  housekeeping,  and  they 
can  make  good  bread. 

At  this  time  the  Home  was  in  the  charge  of  Miss  Marie 


314  MARY    AND    I. 

L.  Haines  —  since  become  Mrs.  Joseph  Steer — and  Miss 
Anna  Skea." 

Before  I  left  the  Santee,  to  return  to  my  home  in  Beloit, 
the  ordination  of  Mr.  Charles  L.  Hall  was  announced  to 
take  place  at  Yankton  on  the  22d  of  February,  and  I  was 
sorry  I  could  not  remain  and  take  part.  The  marriage 
of  Mr.  Hall  and  Miss  Calhoun  was  consummated  at  the 
Yankton  agency  a  week  previous  to  this  time. 

For  the  ordination  the  Congregational  churches  of 
Yankton  and  Springfield  had  united  in  calling  the  coun 
cil.  The  call  included  the  neighboring  Congregational 
churches  and  three  of  our  native  churches.  The  Santee 
Agency  church  was  represented  by  Pastor  Artemas  Ehna- 
mane  and  Deacon  Robert  Swift  Deer.  The  council  con 
vened  in  Mr.  Ward's  church.  The  venerable  Rev.  Charles 
Seccombe  of  Nebraska  was  moderator,  and  Rev.  A.  D. 
Adams  of  Sioux  Falls  was  scribe. 

The  sermon  was  preached  by  Rev.  Geo.  F.  Magoun, 
D.D.,  of  Iowa  College,  and  his  theme  was  "The  Chris 
tian  Ambassadorship."  It  was  said  to  be  a  sermon  worthy 
of  the  occasion  and  the  preacher.  It  was  eminently  fit 
ting  that  Dr.  Magoun  should  preach  the  sermon  on  the 
sending  off  of  this  new  mission.  For  among  those  who 
bore  such  effective  testimony  in  behalf  of  Indian  missions, 
on  the  platform  of  the  American  Board  in  Chicago  was 
President  Magoun.  The  ordaining  prayer  was  made  by 
Rev.  John  P.  Williamson  ;  the  charge  was  given  by  Rev. 
Joseph  Ward,  and  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  by  Rev. 
A.  L.  Riggs. 

Thus  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hall  were  set  apart,  and  sent  off  to 
plant  the  standard  of  the  cross  at  Fort  Berthold,  among 
the  Mandans  and  Rees  and  Hidatsa,  at  a  point  on  the 


FORTY   YEARS   WITH    THE    SIOUX.  315 

Missouri  fifteen  hundred  miles  above  its  mouth.  The 
Word  Carrier  for  April,  1876,  gave  them  the  right 
hand  of  fellowship.  It  said  :  "  They  must  be  a  part  of  us. 
'They  will,  in  fact,  form  a  part  of  the  Dakota  Mission. 
We  will  work  with  them,  by  our  prayers  and  sympathies 
and  Dakota  books  and  native  help,  so  far  as  they  can  use 
them."  It  said  to  them  :  "  Go  and  plant  the  standard  of 
the  cross  at  Berthold,  and  '  Hold  the  Fort '  for  the  Mas 
ter.  You  have  the  old  promise,  '  Lo !  I  am  with  you  all 
days.'  It  is  ever  new,  and  ever  inspiring.  And  yet 
there  may  be  dark  days  and  lonesome  nights  perhaps. 
You  will  have  to  learn  the  way  into  dark  human  hearts, 
which  must  be  done  '  by  the  patience  of  hope,  and  the 
labor  of  love.'  You  will  tell  them,  in  the  heart's  lan 
guage,  of  that  strange  love  of  the  Great  Father,  who 
sent  his  Son  to  seek  and  save  the  lost.  You  will  entreat 
the  Holy  Spirit  to  beget  in  the  Hidatsa  and  Ree  and 
Mandan  people  a  soul-hunger  that  can  only  be  satisfied 
with  the  Bread  and  the  Water  of  Life.  And  may  the 
good  Lord  keep  you  evermore,  and  give  you  showers  of 
blessing." 

According  to  previous  announcement  in  the  Word  Car 
rier,  the  fifth  annual  meeting  of  the  Dakota  Mission  and 
Conference  of  the  native  churches  commenced  its  ses 
sions  on  the  afternoon  of  September  7,  1876,  in  the  new 
and  beautiful  Church  of  Ascension,  J.  B.  Renville  pastor. 
The  house  was  crowded.  The  delegations  and  visitors 
from  Yankton,  Santee,  Flandreau,  and  Brown  Earth 
amounted  to  one  hundred  and  six. 

The  convention  was  opened  with  prayer  and  singing, 
Rev.  A.  L.  Riggs  and  Rev.  David  Gray  Cloud,  English 
and  Dakota  secretaries,  presiding.  A  new  Dakota  hymn 
of  welcome  was  sung  by  the  choir  and  church,  when  words 


316  MARY    AND    I. 

of  welcome  were  spoken  by  Pastor  J.  B.  Renville,  and  by 
agent  J.  G.  Hamilton  of  the  Sisseton  agency,  and  by 
S.  R.  Riggs.  These  were  responded  to  by  J.  P.  William 
son,  for  the  Yanktons ;  by  Rev.  Artemas  Ehnamane,  for 
the  Santees ;  and  by  Rev.  John  Eastman,  for  the  large 
delegation  from  the  Big  Sioux. 

The  Conference  then  proceeded  to  make  out  the  roll 
and  perfect  its  organization.  All  the  native  pastors  were 
present,  with  elders,  and  deacons,  and  teachers,  and  mes 
sengers  from  the  churches,  numbering  together  fifty-nine, 
and  missionaries  eleven.  T.  L.  Riggs  and  David  Gray 
Cloud  were  chosen  secretaries  for  the  next  two  years. 
The  Conference  then  listened  to  an  address  on  family 
worship  from  Dr.  T.  S.  Williamson. 

From  the  speeches  of  welcome  and  the  responses  it 
was  manifest  that  for  months  the  convention  has  been 
looked  forward  to  with  great  interest ;  all  parties  have 
come  up  to  the  meeting  with  joyful  expectations.  Major 
J.  G.  Hamilton,  the  representative  of  the  government  on 
this  reserve,  has  made  liberal  arrangements  to  feed  all  the 
Dakota  visitors,  for  which  he  has  our  thanks  in  advance. 

Rev.  A.  D.  Adams,  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church 
at  Sioux  Falls,  we  are  glad  to  welcome  to  our  hospital 
ities  and  discussions. 

Although  for  the  greater  part  of  the  time  we  were 
together  the  clouds  were  over  us,  and  sometimes  envel 
oped  us,  all  the  services  were  very  largely  attended  ;  and 
on  Sabbath  the  crowd  was  so  great  that  we  were  obliged 
to  hold  our  morning  service  out-of-doors.  The  subjects 
brought  before  the  Conference  for  discussion  were  of 
vital  practical  interest,  and  were  entered  into  with  enthu 
siasm  by  the  native  speakers,  and  the  action  taken  upon 
them  was  usually  very  satisfactory. 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  317 

While  our  meetings  were  in  progress,  there  came  a 
message  to  us  from  the  white  man's  country,  asking  that 
our  Dakota  churches  unite  with  white  Christians  all  along 
the  western  border  in  a  Prayer  League  against  the 
grasshoppers.  While  Sitting  Bull  and  the  hostile  Da 
kotas  are  fighting  with  the  white  soldiers  in  one  part  of 
the  country,  and,  it  may  be,  by  the  cruelties  of  one  side 
or  both,  bringing  upon  us  this  scourge  from  the  hand  of 
God,  it  is  eminently  fitting  that  the  praying  Dakotas  and 
the  praying  white  people  should  together  humble  them 
selves  before  him.  So  said  the  Dakotas. 

It  will  give  variety  and  interest  to  the  circumstances 
and  proceedings  of  this  meeting  to  have  them  recounted 
by  others. 


"  The  morning  of  September  1  found  the  missionaries 
of  Bogue  Station,  near  Fort  Sully,  on  their  way  to  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  Dakota  Mission.  The  party  con 
sisted  of  five  —  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Riggs,  Misses  Collins  and 
Whipple,  and  little  Theodore.  The  carriage  was  heavily 
loaded  with  articles  needed  for  the  overland  journey,  con 
sisting  of  tent,  tent-poles  and  pins,  axe,  gun,  stove,  cook 
ing-utensils,  provision-boxes,  traveling-bags,  blankets,  and 
robes. 

"  A  number  of  the  Indians  had  promised  to  accompany 
them,  but  the  coming  council  of  the  commissioners 
proved  a  greater  attraction  than  the  gathering  together 
of  their  Christian  brethren,  and  they  remained  at  home. 

"  The  day  was  cool  but  pleasant,  and  all  enjoyed  the 
ride,  which  gave  them  keen  appetites  for  the  dinner  taken 
on  the  bank  of  the  Huhboju.  In  the  afternoon  Mr.  Riggs 
shot  some  ducks,  while  others  gathered  willows  to  carry 


318  MARY    AND    I. 

along  for  the  night's  fire,  as  at  that  camping-place  there 
was  no  wood. 

"The  second  day  proved  to  be  the  most  eventful  of 
the  trip.  A  village  of  prairie-dogs  was  passed,  a  rabbit 
chased,  and  an  antelope  seen.  But  the  great  event  was 
the  tip  over —  not  an  ordinary  upset,  but  a  complete  rev 
olution  of  the  carriage.  The  large  grasses  grew  so 
thickly  across  the  track  that  a  deep  rut  was  concealed 
from  view  ;  and  had  it  been  thought  necessary  to  drive 
from  the  track,  the  bluff  on  one  side  and  a  water  hole  on 
the  other  would  have  prevented. 

"  The  upper  part  of  the  carriage  was  too  heavy  to  keep 
its  balance  when  the  wheels  went  into  the  rut,  and  the 
whole  outfit  was  precipitated  six  feet  down  the  bank  into 
the  water  hole,  which,  fortunately,  was  dry.  Mrs.  Riggs 
slipped  from  her  seat  and  was  held  down  by  the  provis 
ions,  boxes,  and  blankets,  which  fell  upon  her  when  the 
carriage  passed  over.  Mr.  Riggs  found  himself  upon  the 
axle-tree.  Miss  Collins  gave  a  faint  *  Oh,  ohf  and  said, 
4  Don't  hurt  the  baby.'  The  baby  was  the  safest  of  all. 
He  was  nearly  asleep  on  Miss  Whipple's  arm,  and  was 
there  held  while  she  went  through  a  series  of  circus  per 
forming  hitherto  unknown.  When  all  were  safely  out, 
and  it  was  known  that  no  one  was  seriously  injured,  ex 
clamations  of  joy  and  thankfulness  were  uttered. 

"  Mr.  Riggs  started  in  pursuit  of  the  team,  which  had 
become  detached  from  the  carriage  by  the  breaking  of  a 
bolt,  and,  frightened  by  the  confusion,  had  run  away. 
They  were  easily  caught,  as  one  ran  faster  than  the  other 
and  thus  running  went  in  a  circle.  Miss  Collins  com 
menced  searching  for  the  whiffle-tree  and  found  it  nearly 
a  half-mile  away. 

"  The  boxes,  bags,  blankets,  etc.,  were  taken  out,  the 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  319 

carriage  drawn  into  the  road,  and  the  bows  of  the 
top  mended  by  means  of  a  tent-pin  and  a  strap.  The 
broken  bolt  was  replaced  by  a  lariat  and  picket-pin, 
and  the  dash-board  found  a  place  in  the  feed-box  in 
the  rear.  Other  things  were  arranged  in  their  respective 
places,  the  team  hitched  to  the  conveyance,  and  in  a  little 
more  than  an  hour  from  the  time  of  stopping  they  were 
again  journeying  onward.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Riggs  and  Miss 
Collins  had  a  few  bruises,  the  other  two  not  a  scratch  of 
which  to  boast. 

"  At  noon  they  lunched  under  the  trees  beside  a  dry 
lake-bed.  All  the  water  they  had  they  brought  with 
them  in  a  canteen. 

"  The  head  of  Snake  Creek  was  the  next  place  where 
water  could  be  found,  and  this  place  they  hoped  to  reach 
by  six  o'clock.  But  the  road  was  long  and  the  horses 
weary.  It  was  eight  o'clock  when  the  creek  was  reached, 
and  then  it  was  found  to  be  dry.  There  was  nothing 
to  be  done  but  to  drive  ten  miles  farther,  where  there 
were  both  wood  and  water. 

"Little  Theodore  seemed  to  realize  that  all  was  not 
quite  right,  and,  knowing  his  bed-time,  was  passed  asked 
his  mamma  to  sing.  Then  he  said,  '  Mamma,  keep  still 
while  I  pray.'  Folding  his  hands,  he  lisped  in  sweet  baby 
accents,  — '  Dear  Father  in  heaven,  take  care  of  little 
Theodore,  Grandma  and  Grandpa,  Papa  and  Mamma, 
Aunt  May  and  Miss  Whipple,  for  Jesus'  sake.  Amen.' 
Then  he  settled  down  in  the  seat  to  sleep.  Happy,  trust 
ing  child  !  He  that  careth  for  sparrows  would  not  fail  to 
hear  the  prayer  of  the  little  two-year-old  who  had  ex 
pressed  the  thought  of  each  heart.  It  was  nearly  mid 
night  when  supper  was  over  and  camp  work  done. 

"  All  were  thankful  that  the  next  day  was  the  Day  of 
Rest  —  the  horses  not  less  than  the  people. 


320  MARY    AND   I. 

'•The  Sabbath  was  bright  and  beautiful,  and,  though 
nearly  a  hundred  miles  from  any  habitation,  they  felt 
they  were  not  alone,  but  that  the  God  who  is  worshiped 
in  temples  not  made  by  hands  was  with  them  through 
all  the  pleasant  hours  of  the  holy  day. 

"  Old  Sol  now  concluded  to  veil  his  face  awhile,  and 
Monday  morning  was  ushered  in  by  a  heavy  rain. 
About  nine  o'clock  the  clouds  broke  away  and  prepara 
tions  were  made  to  start.  Before  these  were  completed 
the  rain  again  commenced  falling.  They,  however,  did 
not  tarry,  but  rode  ten  miles  in  the  moist  atmosphere, 
which  took  the  starch  out  of  the  ladies'  sun-bonnets,  wet 
the  robes  and  bedding,  but  did  not  dampen  the  spirits  of 
the  party. 

"  Then  they  decided  to  wait  until  the  storm  abated. 
Pitched  the  tent  in  the  rain  and  remained  there  until  the 
next  morning,  when  the  journey  was  resumed,  though  the 
rain-drops  were  still  falling. 

"Wednesday  forenoon  they  saw  an  Indian  house 
and  met  four  Indians,  —  the  first  house  passed  and 
the  first  persons  seen  since  Bogue  Station  was  left. 

"That  evening,  just  at  dusk,  the  Jim  River  was 
forded,  and  that  night  spent  on  its  bank  in  fighting 
mosquitoes. 

"  Thursday  they  ascended  the  Coteau  Range  and  made 
a  call  at  Fort  Wadsworth.  Two  hundred  miles  had  been 
traveled,  and  they  had  now  arrived  at  the  first  settle 
ment.  A  few  miles  on  their  camp  was  made,  and  early 
the  next  morning  they  started,  hoping  to  reach  Good 
Will  in  time  for  dinner.  Good  Will  was  reached,  but 
no  person  could  be  found.  Bolted  doors  prevented 
nn  entrance,  and  now  they  must  go  eight  miles  to 
Ascension  church,  where  the  Conference  was  in  session. 


FORTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.         321 

"  After  riding  up  and  down  the  many  hills  over  which 
the  road  runs,  they  stopped  at  an  Indian  house  to  inquire 
the  way.  Out  rushed  a  multitude  of  men  and  women. 
One  old  lady,  a  mother  in  Israel,  came  hurrying  along 
on  her  staff,  saying,  'That's  Thomas,  that's  Thomas.' 
They  all  shook  hands,  and  expressed  their  joy  because 
of  the  safe  arrival.  The  thought  came,  'It  is  worth  all 
the  trouble  of  a  journey  across  the  wide  prairie  to  see  so 
many  Christian  Indians.' 

"A  little  farther  on  the  old  church,  now  used  for  a 
school  building,  was  reached  and  found  to  be  occupied 
by  most  of  the  missionaries  who  were  attending  the 
meeting.  They  kindly  welcomed  the  weary  travelers 
who  had  come  so  far  from  the  wild  Teeton  band,  and 
took  them  in  and  warmed  and  fed  them. 

"But  the  subject  which  pre-eminently  engaged  the  at 
tention  of  the  Conference  on  this  occasion,  and  drew 
from  our  native  pastors  and  laymen  enthusiastic  words, 
was  that  of  carrying  the  Gospel  to  the  regions  beyond." 

T.  L.  Riggs  has  written  the  following  account  of  the 
formation  of  a  native 

DAKOTA    MISSIONARY    SOCIETY  I 

"  A  year  since  steps  were  taken  at  our  Ptaya  Owo- 
hdaka  gathering  for  the  formation  of  a  Native  Mission 
ary  Society.  The  question  was:  'Are  not  the  native 
Christians  ready  and  able  to  support  a  special  agency 
for  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  among  the  still  heathen 
Dakotas?  A  committee  was  appointed  to  canvass  the 
matter  and  report  at  the  next  Annual  Conference.  At 
this  meeting,  which  has  just-  adjourned,  the  missionary 
committee  reported  over  $240  cash  in  hand,  and  recom- 


322  MARY    AND   I. 

mended  that :  (1)  a  Missionary  Board  of  three  members 
—  one  the  secretary,  another  treasurer  —  be  elected; 
and  (2)  a  full  discussion  and  expression  of  opinion 
on  the  part  of  the  Conference.  This  discussion  was 
earnest,  and  showed  an  understanding  of  the  subject, 
and  a  readiness  to  grapple  with  its  difficulties,  that  was 
very  gratifying.  The  missionary  board  was  carefully 
chosen  and  instructed  to  select  a  fit  man  and  send  him 
out  at  once.  After  some  consideration,  David  Gray 
Cloud,  pastor  of  the  Ma-ya-san  church,  was  chosen  by 
the  Board.  His  acceptance  being  received,  the  Sabbath 
afternoon  service  was  mainly  devoted  to  his  special  set 
ting  apart  for  the  new  work. 

"  This  is  the  first  effort  of  the  kind.  Heretofore  our 
own  missionary  boards  have  fathered  every  such  at 
tempt.  The  support  of  native  workers  has  come  in 
part  or  entirely  from  white  people.  Now  in  this  new 
attempt  all  this  is  changed.  The  native  Christians  send 
and  support  their  own  man.  We  thank  God  that  they 
are  ready  to  do  this. 

"The  new  missionary  will  have  for  his  special  field  the 
Standing  Rock  agency,  though  during  the  colder  winter 
months  he  will  probably  spend  the  most  of  his  time  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Fort  Sully  and  Cheyenne  agency. 
To  those  in  official  position,  as  well  as  all  others  whom  he 
may  meet,  we  commend  him  for  the  work's  sake  and  the 
Master's." 

MISS  MARY  c.  COLLINS'  STORY. 

"  We  had  just  come  from  a  region  where  they  are  still 
abiding  in  the  shadow  of  death,  and  where  they  are  just 
beginning  to  learn  that  they  may  have  life  and  have  it 
more  abundantly  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  No 


FORTY    YEAKS    WITH    THE    SIOUX. 

wonder  that  when  I  saw  so  many  rejoicing  in  his  love  I 
felt  like  exclaiming,  '  God  has  said,  Let  there  be  Light,' 
and  all  the  powers  of  earth  can  not  withhold  it,  for 
God's  time  is  at  hand.  Could  all  the  Christians  in  our 
land  have  beheld  with  me  such  a  multitude  partaking  of 
the  Lord's  supper  and  obeying  that  loving  command, 
*  This  do  in  remembrance  of  me,'  their  hearts  would, 
I  think,  have  been  filled  with  thanksgiving,  and  a  long 
and  earnest  shout  of  '  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and 
on  earth  peace,  good  will  toward  men,'  would  have  re 
sounded  through  the  land. 

"  They  have  the  spirit  of  Christ,  and  are  not  satisfied 
with  being  saved  themselves  only,  but  desire  the  salva 
tion  of  their  benighted  brethren.  They  have  organized 
a  missionary  association  and  raised  in  one  year  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  to  support  a  mission 
ary.  He  is  sent  forth  from  this  meeting,  and  how  it 
must  have  rejoiced  the  hearts  of  those  good  men  who 
have  grown  gray  in  the  service,  to  see  this  young  man 
arising  from  the  degradation  of  his  forefathers,  standing 
on  the  Christian  platform,  receiving  the  blessings  of 
his  people,  and  pledging  himself  faithfully  to  perform 
his  work  toward  them  and  to  his  God.  They  must 
have  had  feelings  akin  to  those  of  Simeon  when  he 
beheld  the  Saviour,  'For  mine  eyes  have  seen  thy 
salvation.'  When  I  saw  the  work  these  women  had 
done  to  help  sustain  their  paper,  again  I  was  amazed. 
Twenty  dollars'  worth  of  fancy  work  was  sold,  and  the 
women  had  done  it  all  themselves.  Well  may  we  say, 
4  They  have  done  what  they  could.'  They  only  have 
one  paper,  the  Word  Carrier  and  it  was  about  to  fail 
for  want  of  means  to  carry  it  on,  and  these  women,  with  a 
truly  Christian  spirit,  went  to  work  to  sustain  this  im- 


324  MARY   AND   I. 

portant  disseminator  of  truth.  That  was  far  more  for 
them  to  give  than  for  our  Christians  at  home  to  subscribe 
for  the  paper  and  make  it  self-supporting.  On  Sabbath 
there  was  not  room  in  their  large  church  to  hold  the 
people,  and  we  were  obliged  to  hold  services  in  the 
open  air,  and  seven  or  eight  hundred  Dakotas  were 
present  to  hear  God's  message  to  them.  And  to  me  it 
seemed  the  most  beautiful  sight  I  ever  beheld.  There 
were  several  admitted  into  the  church,  and  one  girl 
who  was  about  sixteen  years  old,  who  was  baptized  in 
infancy,  now  in  youth  comes  out  on  the  Lord's  side. 
A  little  boy  about  twelve  years  old  was  baptized,  and 
I  thought  of  many  of  the  little  boys  at  home,  even 
older  than  that,  who  had  not  accepted  the  Saviour,  and, 
although  they  have  so  many  blessings,  yet  he  hath 
chosen  the  good  part  which  shall  not  be  taken  away 
from  him. 

"I  think  the  angels  in  heaven  rejoiced  when  these 
people  lifted  up  their  hearts  and  voices  in  praise  to  Him. 
And  as  the  old  missionary  hymn  rang  out  on  the  air,  I 
thought  it  seemed  even  grander  than  ever  before." 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

1871-1877.  —The  Wilder  Sioux.  —Gradual  Openings.  —  Thomas 
Lawrence.  —  Visit  to  the  Land  of  the  Teetons.  —  Fort  Sully. 

—  Hope  Station.  —  Mrs.  General  Stanley  in  the  Evangelist.  — 
Work  by  Native  Teachers.  —  Thomas  Married  to  Nina  Foster. 

—  Nina's  First  Visit  to  Sully.  — Attending  the  Conference  and 
American  Board.  —  Miss  Collins  and  Miss  Whipple.  —  Bogue 
Station.  —  The  Mission  Surroundings.  —  Chapel  Built.  —  Mis 
sion  Work.  —  Church    Organized.  —  Sioux  War    of    1876.  — 
Community  Excited. — Schools.  —  "Waiting  for  a  Boat."  — 
Miss  Whipple  Dies  at  Chicago.  —  Mrs.  Nina  Riggs'  Tribute. 

—  The  Conference  of  1877  at  Sully.  —  Questions  Discussed.  — 
Grand  Impressions. 

WE  had  been  long  thinking  of  and  looking  toward 
the  wilder  part  of  the  Sioux  nation,  living  on  and  west 
of  the  Missouri  River.  More  than  thirty  years  before 
this,  in  company  with  Mr.  Alex.  G.  Husrgins,  I  had  made 
a  trip  over  from  Lac-qui-parle  to  Fort  Pierre.  The 
object  of  that  visit  was  to  inform  ourselves  in  regard  to 
the  Teetons  —  their  numbers  and  condition,  and  whether 
we  ought  then  to  commence  mission  work  among  them. 
And  since  the  Santees  were  brought  to  the  Missouri  we 
had  made  several  preaching  tours  up  the  river,  stopping 
awhile  with  the  Brules  at  Crow  Creek,  and  with  the  Min- 
nekanjoos,  the  Oohenonpa,  the  Ogallala,  and  the  Itazipcho 
of  the  Cheyenne  and  Standing  Rock  agencies.  The 
bringing  of  our  Christianized  people  into  proximity  with 
the  wild  part  of  the  nation  seemed  to  indicate  God's  pur 
pose  of  carrying  the  Gospel  to  them  also. 

325 


326  MAKY    AND    I. 

The  field  was  evidently  now  open,  and  waiting  for  the 
sower  of  the  precious  seed  of  the  Word.  There  was  no 
audible  cry  of  "  Come  over  and  help  us,"  nor  was  there 
in  the  case  of  Paul  with  the  Macedonian.  But  there  was 
the  same  unrest,  the  same  agony,  the  same  reaching  out 
after  a  knowledge  of  God,  now  as  then.  We  listened  to 
it,  and  assuredly  gathered  that  the  Lord  would  have  us 
work  among  the  Teetons. 

Thomas  Lawrence  was  Mary's  second  boy.  He  could 
hardly  be  reconciled  with  the  idea  that  his  mother  should 
go  away  to  the  spirit  land,  while  he  was  down  in  Missis 
sippi  teaching  the  freedmen.  Now  he  had  been  two 
years  in  Chicago  Theological  Seminary,  and  was  asking 
what  he  should  do  when  the  other  year  was  finished. 
The  Prudential  Committee  of  the  American  Board  were 
looking  around  for  some  one  to  send  to  the  Upper  Mis 
souri.  Thomas  had  been  born  and  brought  up,  in  good 
part,  in  the  land  of  the  Dakotas ;  but  they  deemed  it 
only  fair  that  he  should  now  with  a  man's  eyes  see  the 
field,  and  with  a  man's  heart  better  understand  the 
work  before  committing  himself  to  it.  And  so,  in  his 
summer  vacation  of  1871,  they  said  to  him,  "  Go  with 
your  father  to  the  land  of  the  Teetons,  and  see  whether 
you  can  find  your  life-work  with  them." 

We  came  to  the  land  of  the  Teetons,  and  stopped  for 
five  or  six  weeks  at  Fort  Sully,  which  was  in  the  neigh 
borhood  of  Cheyenne  agency.  There  we  found  Chaplain 
G.  D.  Crocker,  who  had  been  much  interested  in  our  work 
among  the  Dakotas  when  stationed  at  Fort  Wadsworth. 
We  found  also  good  and  true  Christian  friends  in  Captain 
Irvine  and  his  wife,  and  in  the  noble  Mrs.  General  Stan 
ley,  the  wife  of  the  commandant  of  the  post.  In  the 
mornings  of  our  stay  in  the  garrison,  we  often  gathered 


FOKTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  327 

buffalo  berries  —  mashtinpoota,  rabbit  noses,  as  the  Ind 
ians  called  them.  During  the  day  we  talked  with  the 
Dakotas,  and  studied  the  Teeton  dialect,  and  also  the 
Assinaboine  and  the  Ree.  In  our  judgment,  the  time  had 
fully  come  for  us  to  commence  evangelistic  work  in  this 
part  of  the  nation.  Our  friends  at  Sully  thought  so,  and 
the  prudential  committee  did  not  hesitate  a  moment. 
Indeed,  they  could  not  wait  for  Thomas  to  finish  his 
seminary  course,  but  sent  him  off  in  midwinter  to  Fort 
Sully.  He  was  ordained  by  a  council  which  met  in 
Beloit. 

The  Indians  of  the  Cheyenne  agency,  a  portion  of 
them,  were  distributed  along  down  in  the  Missouri  bot 
tom  in  little  villages  and  clusters  of  houses.  In  a  vil 
lage  of  this  kind,  a  little  below  the  fort,  and  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  river,  T.  L.  Riggs  erected  his  first 
house.  It  was  a  hewed  log  cabin,  with  two  rooms 
below,  one  of  which  was  a  school-room.  The  garret  was 
arranged  for  sleeping  apartments.  This  was  called  Hope 
Station,  so  named  by  Captain  Irvine's  little  daughter, 
who  about  this  time  came  into  the  Christian  hope. 

Of  this  new  enterprise,  Mrs.  Gen.  D.  S.  Stanley  sent  a 
very  pleasant  notice  to  the  New  York  Evangelist.  "  Six 
years  ago,"  she  says,  "  my  lot  was  cast  among  the  Sioux, 
or  Dakota  Indians,  who  inhabit  the  region  bordering  on 
the  Missouri  River,  500  miles  above  Sioux  City,  Iowa, 
and  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Sully,  Dakota  Territory.  All 
this  time  it  has  been  a  matter  of  surprise  to  me  that  no 
Christian  missionary  was  laboring  among  these  heathens, 
while  so  many  were  sent  to  foreign  lands.  In  reply  to  n 
suggestion  to  this  effect,  made  to  the  American  Board,  it 
was  stated  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  induce  a  compe 
tent  person  to  undertake  so  difficult  and  dangerous  a  task. 


328  MAEY    AND   1. 

"  Meanwhile  God  was  preparing  the  way.  A  boy  had 
grown  up  among  the  Dakotas,  speaking  their  language, 
understanding  their  customs,  and  identifying  himself  with 
their  best  interests.  He  was  at  this  time  in  college  pre 
paring  for  the  ministry,  and  last  spring  this  young  man, 
Rev.  T.  L.  Riggs,  son  of  the  veteran  missionary  and  Da 
kota  scholar  of  that  name,  came  to  this  place,  and  entered 
upon  the  work  for  which  he  seemed  to  be  so  peculiarly 
fitted.  Almost  unassisted,  except  by  a  brother,  and  some 
facilities  for  work  afforded  by  the  commandant  of  Fort 
Sully,  he  has  erected  two  log  buildings,  and  already 
schools  are  in  operation  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  attended 
by  about  sixty  Indians,  of  various  ages.  Two  native 
teachers  were  employed  during  the  summer,  and  two  are 
engaged  for  the  winter.  Mr.  Riggs  has  surmounted  great 
difficulties,  inseparable  from  such  efforts  in  remote  and 
unsettled  regions ;  but  he  is  full  of  energy,  and  his  heart 
is  in  the  work." 

From  the  beginning,  it  has  been  the  aim  at  this  station 
to  do  the  work  of  education  very  much  by  means  of 
native  teachers.  The  first  summer,  a  young  man  from 
the  Yankton  agency,  Toonwan-ojanjan  by  name,  was 
employed,  and  also  Louis  Mazawakinyanna,  from  Sisse- 
ton.  The  next  autumn,  James  Red  Wing  and  his  wife 
Martha,  and  Blue  Feather  (Suntoto),  were  brought  up 
from  the  Santees.  Red  Wing's  wife  taught  the  women 
in  letters  and  the  family  arts,  while  the  men  taught  the 
young  men  and  children  generally,  and  greatly  aided  in 
the  religious  teachings  of  the  Sabbath.  Afterward, 
Dowanmane,  another  Santee  man,  was  employed  in  like 
manner.  This  was  the  commencement  of  educational 
and  Christian  work  in  this  Teeton  field. 

At  another  point,  some  few  miles  below  Hope  Station, 


FOKTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          329 

on  the  same  side  of  the  river,  was  another  Dakota  vil 
lage,  where  Thomas  immediately  commenced  holding  a 
preaching  service,  and  has  kept  up  a  school.  It  is  one  of 
his  out  stations,  and  called  Chan  tier,  from  the  name  of 
the  creek  and  bottom.  While  the  opportunities  for  edu 
cation  and  the  new  teaching  were  looked  upon  favora 
bly,  and  gladly  received  by  many,  there  were  not  want 
ing  those  who  were  savagely  opposed.  At  different 
times,  while  Henry  M.  Riggs,  who  spent  several  years 
aiding  in  the  erection  of  buildings  and  other  general 
work,  was  present  with  Thomas  at  Hope  Station,  their 
house  and  tent  were  fired  upon  by  Indians,  and  residence 
there  seemed  hardly  safe. 

When  he  had  thus  started  the  work,  leaving  it  to  be 
cared  for  and  carried  on  by  Henry  M.  Riggs  and  Edmund 
Cooley  and  the  native  teachers,  Thomas  went  down  to 
the  States  to  consummate  a  marriage  engagement  with 
Cornelia  Margaret  Foster  (known  as  Nina  Foster),  daugh 
ter  of  Hon.  John  B.  Foster  of  Bangor,  Me.  It  was 
winter,  and  not  considered  advisable  for  Mrs.  Riggs  to 
return  with  her  husband  to  his  home  among  the  Teetons. 
She  made  a  visit  with  her  sister,  Mrs.  C.  H.  Howard,  at 
Glencoe,  in  the  vicinity  of  Chicago,  and  in  the  spring 
month  of  May  I  accompanied  her  up  the  Missouri.  We 
had  a  particularly  long  voyage  of  eleven  days,  on  the 
Katie  Koontz,  between  the  Santee  agency  and  Fort 
Sully;  so  long  that  we  picked  up  Thomas  on  the  way, 
coming  to  meet  us  in  his  little  skiff. 

Thomas  and  Nina  returned  to  Sully  after  our  mis 
sion  meeting  at  the  Yankton  agency,  and  then,  in 
September,  went  to  the  meeting  of  the  board  at  Minne 
apolis. 

Sully  was  a  far-off  station.     There  were  many  reasons 


330  MARY    AND    I. 

why  a  white  woman  should  not  be  there  alone.  Miss 
Lizzie  Bishop's  election  to  go  back  with  them,  together 
with  her  beautiful  life  and  early  death,  have  been  detailed 
in  a  preceding  chapter. 

She  had  fallen  out  of  the  working  ranks,  but  others 
were  ready  to  step  to  the  front.  In  the  previous  spring, 
Secretary  Treat  had  told  me  that  there  were  two  young 
ladies  in  Iowa  who  were  anxious  to  engage  in  mission 
work.  They  preferred  to  go  to  the  Indians,  as  they  de 
sired  to  labor  together.  It  was  a  David  and  Jonathan 
love  that  existed  between  Miss  Mary  C.  Collins  and  Miss 
J.  Emmaretta  Whipple.  They  were  immediately  sent 
out  by  the  Woman's  Board  of  the  Interior  to  labor  at 
Bogue  Station. 

This  place,  selected  in  1873,  had  for  various  reasons 
become  in  1874  the  home  station  —  thenceforward  Hope 
was  only  an  out-station.  Bogue  Station  is  on  Peoria 
bottom,  about  fifteen  miles  below  Fort  Sully,  and  on  the 
same  side  of  the  Missouri,  called  by  the  Indians  "  Tee- 
tanka-ohe,"  meaning  "The  place  of  a  large  house,"  so 
called  from  a  house  built  years  ago  by  an  Indian.  Gen 
eral  Harney  selected  this  bottom  as  the  place  for  an 
agency,  or  rather,  perhaps,  where  a  scheme  of  civilization 
should  be  tried,  and  built  upon  it  several  log  houses, 
which  became  the  dwellings  of  Yellow  Hawk  and  his 
people.  The  bottom  has  several  advantages  —  consider 
able  cottonwood  timber,  plenty  of  grass  for  hay,  and  as 
good  land  for  cultivation  as  there  is  in  this  often  "  dry 
and  thirsty  land."  * 

The  first  winter  Oyemaza,  or  James  Red  Wing,  and  his 
wife  lived  here  with  Henry  M.  Riggs,  and  taught  a  school. 
The  second  winter  Thomas  and  Nina,  with  Miss  Bishop^ 

*  Now  named  Oahe. 


FOKTY  YEARS  WITH  THE  SIOUX.          331 

made  it  their  abode.  So  that  it  was  not  quite  a  new 
place  to  which  Miss  Collins  and  Miss  Whipple  came,  and 
yet  new  enough.  The  mission  dwelling  is  made  of  logs 
—  one  series  of  logs  joined  to  another,  so  as  to  make  four 
rooms  below,  one  of  which  has  served  as  a  school-room 
through  the  week  and  a  chapel  for  the  Sabbath.  Addi 
tions  have  been  made  in  the  rear.  The  school-room  has 
for  a  long  time  back  overflowed  on  the  Sabbath,  and  the 
women  and  children  have  been  packed  into  the  room 
adjoining,  which  is  the  family  room.  Hence  a  great  and 
growing  want  of  this  station  has  been  a  chapel  and  larger 
school-room.  The  name  of  Bogue  was  given  to  the  sta 
tion  for  Mrs.  Mary  S.  Bogue,  a  special  friend  of  Thomas 
while  he  was  in  the  seminary,  who  has  gone  to  her  rest. 
It  was  at  one  time  expected  that  Mr.  Bogue  would  fur 
nish  the  means  to  erect  a  chapel ;  but  the  shrinkage  in 
values  and  financial  losses  made  him  a  broken  reed.  And 
so  the  desired  building  has  been  postponed  from  year  to 
year.  But  a  small  contribution  of  fourteen  cents,  made 
by  little  Bertie  Howard,  was  the  nucleus  around  which 
larger  contributions  gathered,  chiefly  from  Nina's  native 
Bangor.  About  $400  of  special  contributions  were  thus 
received,  and  the  prudential  committee  made  a  loan, 
which  was  afterward  made  a  gift,  of  $500  toward  it.  The 
building  is  going  up  —  August,  1877  —  a  neat  and  sub 
stantial  frame,  the  material  of  which  was  brought  up 
from  Yankton  by  boat.  It  is  forty  by  twenty  feet,  and 
will  have  a  bell-tower  in  one  corner. 

Let  me  now  go  back  and  take  up  the  threads  of  the 
narrative  which  were  dropped  two  years  ago.  The  two 
young  ladies  who  desired  to  work  together  in  some  Indian 
field  found  themselves  here  in  Yellow  Hawk's  village. 


332 


MARY    AND    I. 


They  entered  into  the  labors  of  those  who  had  been  here 
longer.  They  grew  into  the  work.  The  day  schools  in 
books  and  sewing,  together  with  the  night  school,  em 
ployed  all  hands,  during  the  winter  especially.  A  number 
have  learned  to  read  and  write  in  their  own  lano-uao-e. 

O          O 

Besides  the  school  carried  on  at  the  home  station,  the  two 
out  stations  have  been  occupied  by  native  helpers.  Edwin 
Phelps,  from  the  Sisseton  agency,  with  his  mother,  Eliz 
abeth  Winyan,  have  been  valuable  assistants  for  two 
winters  past.  Also  for  the  winter  of  1876-7,  David  Gray 
Cloud,  one  of  the  native  pastors  at  the  head  of  the  Coteau, 
did  valuable  service  both  in  teaching  and  preaching. 
He  was  sent  to  Standing  Rock  by  the  native  missionary 
society,  but,  not  being  able  to  get  a  footing  there,  he 
came  down  here  to  preach  to  these  Teetons  salvation  by 
Jesus  Christ.  In  the  spring,  when  he  was  leaving  for 
Sisseton,  they  begged  him  to  stay,  or  at  least  to  promise 
to  come  back  again. 

The  Word,  during  these  years,  has  not  been  preached 
in  vain.  While  in  the  main  it  has  been  seed-sowing,  — 
only  seed-sowing  —  breaking  up  the  wild  prairie-land  of 
these  wild  Dakota  hearts,  and  planting  a  seed  here  and 
there,  which  grows,  producing  some  good  fruit,  but  in 
most  cases  not  yet  the  best  fruit  of  a  pure  and  holy  life, 
—  still,  in  the  summer  of  1876,  one  young  man,  the  first 
fruits  among  the  Teetons,  David  Lee  (Upijate)  by  name, 
came  out  as  a  disciple  of  Jesus.  This  was  the  signal  for 
the  organization  of  a  church  at  this  station,  which  was 
effected  in  August.  Another  native  convert,  the  brother 
of  the  first,  was  added  in  the  autumn  following;  and  still 
more  a  year  or  so  afterward. 

For  two  winters  past,  several  boys  and  young  men,  who 
have  made  a  good  commencement  in  education  in  these 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  333 

schools,  have  been  sent  down  to  enjoy  the  advantages  of 
A.  L.  Riggs'  High  School  at  Santee.  The  Sioux  war  of 
the  summer  of  1876  produced  a  great  excitement  at  all 
the  agencies  on  the  Upper  Missouri.  The  Indians  in 
these  villages  were  more  or  less  intimately  connected 
with  the  hostiles.  Many  of  those  accustomed  to  receive 
rations  here  were  during  the  summer  out  on  the  plains. 
Some  of  them  were  in  the  Custer  fight.  They  say  that 
Sitting  Bull's  camp  was  not  large  —  only  about  two 
hundred  lodges.  The  victory  they  gained  was  not,  as 
the  whites  claimed,  owing  to  the  overwhelming  number 
of  the  Dakotas,  but  to  the  exhausted  condition  of 
Ouster's  men  and  horses,  and  to  their  adventuring  them 
selves  into  a  gorge  where  they  could  easily  be  cut  off. 

When  the  autumn  came,  the  victories  of  the  Sioux  had 
been  turned  into  a  general  defeat.  Many  of  them,  as 
they  claim,  had  been  opposed  to  the  war  all  along.  The 
attacks,  they  say,  were  all  made  by  the  white  soldiers. 
They  —  these  Dakota  men  —  were  anxious  to  have  peace, 
and  used  all  their  influence  to  abate  the  war  spirit  among 
the  more  excited  young  men.  This  made  it  possible  for 
the  military  to  carry  out  the  order  to  dismount  and 
disarm  the  Sioux.  But  in  doing  this  all  were  treated 
alike  as  foes.  Such  men  as  Long  Mandan  complain 
bitterly  of  this  injustice.  From  him  and  his  connections 
the  military  took  sixty-two  horses.  He  cannot  see  the 
righteousness  of  it. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  this  excited  state  of  the  com 
munity  was  unfavorable,  in  some  respects,  to  missionary 
work  during  the  winter.  The  military  control  attempted 
to  interfere  with  the  sending  away  of  Teeton  young  men 
to  the  Santee  school.  But  on  the  whole  no  year  of 
work  has  proved  more  profitable.  In  all  the  schools, 


334  MARY    AND   I. 

Thomas  reported  about  two  hundred  and  forty  scholars. 
They  were  necessarily  irregular  in  attendance,  as  they 
were  frequently  ordered  up  to  the  agency  to  be  counted. 
Still,  the  willing  hearts  and  hands  had  work  to  do  all  the 
time.  And  so  the  spring  of  1877  came,  when  the  women 
folks  of  Bogue  Station  had  all  planned  to  have  a  little 
rest.  Mrs.  Nina  Riggs  was  to  go  as  far  as  Chicago  to 
meet  her  father  and  mother  from  Bangor.  Miss  Collins 
and  Miss  Whipple  were  going  to  visit  their  friends  in 
Iowa  and  Wisconsin.  And  so  they  all  prepared  for  the 
journey  and  waited  for  a  boat.  By  some  mischance 
boats  slid  by  them.  They  put  their  tent  on  the  river- 
bank  and  waited.  So  a  whole  month  had  passed,  when, 
at  last,  their  patient  waiting  was  rewarded,  and  they 
passed  down  the  Missouri  River  and  on  to  Chicago. 

The  ladies  of  the  Woman's  Board  of  the  Interior  had 
arranged  to  have  them  present  and  take  an  active  part 
in  several  public  meetings  in  and  around  Chicago.  This 
was  unwise  for  the  toilers  among  the  Dakotas.  The 
excitement  of  waiting  and  travel  —  the  summer  season  — 
the  strain  on  the  nervous  system  incident  to  speaking 
in  public,  to  those  unaccustomed  to  it  —  all  these  were 
unfavorable  to  the  rest  they  needed.  We  must  not 
(juarrel  with  the  Lord's  plan,  but  we  may  object  to  the 
human  unwisdom.  So  it  was;  before  Miss  Whipple  had 
visited  her  friends  she  was  stricken  down  with  fever. 
Loving  hearts  and  willing  hands  could  not  stay  its 
progress.  It  is  said,  and  we  do  not  doubt  it,  that  all 
was  done  for  her  recovery  that  kind  and  anxious  friends 
could  do.  Miss  Collins,  her  special  friend,  did  not  leave 
her.  Delirium  came  on,  and  she  was  waiting  for  the 
boat.  It  was  not  now  a  Missouri  steamer,  but  the  boat 
that  angels  bring  across  from  the  Land  of  Life.  She  saw 


FORTY   YEARS    WITH   THE    SIOUX.  335 

it  coming.  "  The  boat  has  come  and  I  must  step  in," 
she  said.  And  so  she  did,  and  passed  over  to  the  farther 
shore  of  the  river. 

The  Teetons  say,  "  Two  young  women  went  away,  and 
one  of  them  is  not  coming  back.  They  say  she  has  gone 
to  the  land  of  spirits.  It  has  been  so  before.  Miss 
Bishop  went  away,  and  we  did  not  see  her  again.  And 
now  we  shall  not  see  Miss  Whipple  any  more."  So  they 
mourn  with  us.  But,  while  the  workers  fall,  their  work 
willnot  fail.  It  is  the  work  for  which  Christ  came  from  the 
bosom  of  the  Father ;  and,  as  he  lives  now,  so  he  "  shall 
see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul,  and  shall  be  satisfied.5  ' 

Dear  Miss  Whipple's  death  came  upon  us  like  a 
thunder-clap.  We  are  dumb,  because  the  Lord  has  done 
it.  Nevertheless,  it  has  made  our  hearts  very  sad  and 
interfered  with  our  plans  of  work.  But  we  can  say, 
"  Not  in  our  way,  but  in  Thy  way,  shall  the  work  be 
done."  A  fitting  tribute  from  Mrs.  Nina  Riggs  will  be 
found  very  interesting. 

"  Miss  J.  E.  Whipple  died  of  gastric  fever  at  Chicago, 
August  11,  aged  24.  For  nearly  two  years  she  had 
been  connected  with  the  Dakota  Mission  among  the 
Teeton  Indians.  And  she  left  her  work  there  last 
spring,  in  order  to  take  a  short  vacation  and  visit  among 
her  friends.  On  her  way  from  her  sister's  home  in 
Knoxville,  111.,  to  the  home  of  her  father  at  Badger, 
Wis.,  she  was  attacked  by  the  disease  which  proved 
fatal.  Through  all  her  sickness  to  the  end,  she  was 
tenderly  and  lovingly  cared  for  by  Miss  Mary  Collins, 
her  intimate  friend  and  companion  in  missionary  labor. 
In  the  summer  of  1875,  Miss  Whipple  gave  herself  to 
the  cause  of  missions,  and  entered  upon  her  work  in  the 


336  MARY    AND    T. 

autumn  of  that  same  year.  She  had  little  idea  of  what 
she  should  be  called  to  do,  but  self-consecration  was  the 
beginning  of  all,  and  so,  whatever  work  was  given  her 
to  do,  she  took  it  up  cheerfully  and  earnestly,  yielding 
time  and  strength  and  zeal  to  it.  Though  it  seemed  small, 
she  did  not  scorn  it;  though  repugnant,  she  did  not 
shirk  it ;  though  hard,  she  bravely  bore  it.  Her  merry 
smile,  her  thoughtful  mind,  her  quick  response,  the  work 
of  her  strong,  shapely  hands,  all  blessed  our  mission 
home.  She  came  a  stranger  to  us,  but  when  she  left  us 
in  the  spring,  only  for  a  summer's  vacation  as  we  thought, 
she  was  our  true  and  well  beloved  friend. 

"  They  tell  me  she  is  dead  !  When  the  word  reached 
us,  already  was  the  dear  form  laid  away  by  loving  hands 
to  its  last  rest. 

"  Dead  !  The  house  is  full  of  her  presence,  the  work  of 
her  hands  is  about  us,  the  echo  of  her  voice  is  in  our 
morning  and  vesper  hymns,  the  women  and  children 
whom  she  taught  to  sew  and  knit,  and  the  men  whom 
she  taught  to  read  and  write,  gather  about  the  door 
way.  Even  now  beneath  the  workman's  hammer  is 
rising  the  chapel,  for  which  she  hoped  and  prayed  and 
labored. 

"  Dead  ?  No !  The  power  of  her  strong  young  life  is 
still  making  itself  felt,  though  the  bodily  presence  is  re- 
moved  from  us,  nor  can  that  power  cease  so  long  as  the 
work  she  loved  is  a  living  work. 

" '  The  children  all  about  are  sad,'  said  an  Indian  wo 
man.  '  I  too  am  sorrowful.  I  wanted  to  see  her  again.' 
The  little  Theodore,  whom  she  had  loved  and  tended, 
folded  his  hands  and  prayed,  l  Bless  Miss  Emmie  up  in 
heaven,  —  she  was  sick  and  died  and  went  to  heaven,  — 
and  bring  her  back  some  time.'  Sweet,  childish  prayer 


FORTY   YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  337 

that  would  fain  reach  out  with  benediction  to  her  who  is 
beyond  the  reach  of  our  blessing,  eternally  blest. 

"  As  she  passed  away  from  the  fond,  enfolding  arms 
that  would  have  detained  her,  she  breathed  a  message  for 
us  all.  Listen  !  Do  you  not  hear  her  speaking  ?  '  Work 
for  the  missions,  work  for  the  missions.  Christ  died  for 
the  missions.' 

"On  the  wall  of  her  room  still  hangs  the  Scripture 
roll  as  it  was  left.  And  this  is  the  word  of  comfort  it 
bears  :  — 

" '  I  shall  be  satisfied  when  I  awake  in  Thy  likeness.' 

"  *  His  servants  shall  serve  Him  and  they  shall  see  His 
face."' 

THE    DAKOTA   CONFERENCE. 

The  sixth  annual  meeting  of  the  Conference  of  churches 
connected  with  the  Dakota  Mission  took  place  at  T.  L. 
Riggs7  station  on  Peoria  bottom,  near  Fort  Sully,  com 
mencing  on  Thursday,  September  13,  1877,  and  closing 
on  Sabbath,  the  16th. 

The  very  neat  new  chapel,  which  had  been  in  building 
only  a  few  weeks,  was  pushed  forward  so  that  it  made  a 
very  convenient  and  comfortable  place  of  meeting.  The 
Sabbath  immediately  preceding,  it  was  occupied  for  relig 
ious  service.  It  was  very  gratifying  to  see  the  house 
filled  by  the  Indians  living  here.  In  the  general  interest 
manifested  in  religious  instructions  by  the  people  of 
these  villages,  there  is  very  much  to  encourage  us.  Old 
men  and  women,  young  men  and  maidens,  flock  to  the 
new  chapel,  and  express  great  gratification  that  it  has 
been  erected  for  their  benefit. 

On  Wednesday,  the  12th  of  the  month,  the  delegates 
began  to  come  in.  The  first  to  arrive  were  from  the 


338  MARY    AND   I. 

homestead  settlement  of  Flandreau  on  the  Big  Sioux. 
They  had  come  260  miles  and  traveled  ten  days.  Then 
fame  the  delegation  of  more  than  twenty  from  the  Sis- 
sc'ton  reservation,  near  Fort  Wads  worth.  And  in  the 
evening  came  the  largest  company  from  the  Yankton  and 
Santee  agencies.  In  all  there  were  over  sixty  present, 
about  forty-five  of  whom  were  members  of  the  Confer 
ence,  and  all  had  traveled  more  than  200  miles.  The 
last  to  arrive  were  John  P.  Williamson  and  A.  L.  Riggs, 
who,  being  disappointed  in  getting  a  steamboat,  had  to 
come  all  the  way  in  the  stage. 

Our  meeting  was  opened  with  a  sermon  by  the  young 
est  of  our  Dakota  pastors,  Rev.  John  Eastman  of  Flan 
dreau.  This  was  followed  by  greetings  from  T.  L.  Riggs 
and  Mr.  Yellow  Hawk  and  Mr.  Spotted  Bear.  Responses 
by  S.  R.  Riggs,  and  pastors  Artemas,  John  Renville, 
Daniel  Renville,  Solomon,  David,  Louis,  and  Joseph 
Blacksmith,  followed  by  A.  L.  Riggs  and  John  P.  Will 
iamson,  who  had  just  arrived.  The  meeting  was  very 
enjoyable  and  was  followed  by  the  organization.  T.  L. 
Riggs  and  David  Gray  Cloud  were  the  English  and  Da 
kota  secretaries,  the  only  officers  of  the  Conference.  The 
roll  contained  fifty  names,  a  number  less  than  we  have 
had  present  in  years  past,  but  quite  large,  considering 
the  distance  of  the  place  from  our  churches,  and  the  press 
ure  of  home  work. 

Friday,  after  a  morning  prayer  meeting,  at  which  the 
house  appeared  to  be  full,  the  Conference  was  opened 
with  so  large  a  gathering  that  it  was  found  necessary  to 
pack  the  house,  when  about  two  hundred  were  crowded 
in.  As  yet  only  a  few  of  these  Teetons  have  changed 
their  dress,  but  they  sit  for  three  hours,  and  listen  very 
attentively  to  discussions  on  the  questions  of  "  How  to 


FORTY    YEARS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  339 

Study  the  Bible,"  and  "  Who  Shall  be  Received  to  Church 
Membership  ? "  To  the  Teetons  it  was  all  new,  but  the 
Kitive  pastors  endeavored  to  put  their  thoughts  into  such 
,'onns  as  to  reach  their  understandings.  Chaplain  G.  D. 
Crocker  of  Sully  was  present  with  his  family,  and  added 
to  the  interest.  On  Saturday,  Dr.  Cravens,  agent  at 
Cheyenne,  with  his  wife,  made  us  a  visit. 

The  homestead  question  occupied  us  for  a  whole  after 
noon,  and  was  one  which  attracted  the  most  attention,  as 
these  Teetons  even  are  greatly  exercised  to  know  how 
they  shall  secure  a  permanent  habitation.  Daniel  Ren- 
ville,  Joseph  Blacksmith,  and  Esau  Iron  Frenchman,  all 
homesteaders,  made  eloquent  appeals  in  favor  of  Indians 
becoming  white  men.  But  their  stories  of  hard  times 
showed  that  it  had  been  no  child's-play  with  them. 

The  report  of  the  executive  committee  of  the  native 
missionary  society  was  read  by  A.  L.  Riggs,  and  David 
Gray  Cloud  gave  an  interesting  account  of  his  last 
winter's  work  on  the  Missouri.  Speeches  were  made  by 
John  B.  Renville,  Joseph  Blacksmith,  S.  R.  Riggs,  and 
John  P.  Williamson.  By  vote  of  the  Conference  the 
same  committee  was  re-elected  for  another  year  —  A.  L. 
Riggs,  Joseph  Blacksmith,  and  John  B.  Renville.  The 
money  now  in  the  treasury  is  about  $160,  besides  certain 
.•trticles  contributed  and  not  yet  sold.  The  committee 
expect  to  engage  the  services  of  one  of  the  pastors  for 
the  coming  winter. 

Another  question  discussed  was  "  Household  Duties  "  ; 
when  the  divine  constitution  of  the  family  was  made  to 
bear  against  polygamy.  This  subject  bore  heavily  upon 
the  principal  men  of  these  villages,  who  were  present  and 
heard  it  all.  It  will  doubtless  cause  some  searchings  of 
heart,  which  we  hope  will  result  in  changed  lives. 


340  MARY    AND    I. 

On  Saturday  afternoon  a  woman's  meeting  was  held, 
which  was  peculiarly  interesting  in  consequence  of  Miss 
Whipple's  unexpected  translation.  She  has  worked 
herself  very  much  into  the  hearts  of  these  Teeton 
women. 

Our  whole  meeting  was  closed  by  the  services  of  the 
Sabbath.  John  P.  Williamson  preached  an  impressive 
sermon  in  Dakota;  John  Eastman  led  in  the  service  of 
song  at  the  organ  ;  two  of  the  native  pastors  administered 
the  Supper  of  our  Lord ;  Gray-haired  Bear  and  Estelle 
Duprey  were  united  in  marriage ;  C.  H.  Howard  of  The 
Advance,  made  a  good  talk  to  the  Dakotas  on  Christian 
work  through  the  Holy  Spirit's  help,  and  led  in  an  Eng 
lish  Bible  reading  ;  and  finally,  John  B.  Renville  gave  us 
a  wonderful  series  of  pictures  on  the  "Glory  of  Heaven" 
—  what  man's  eye  hath  not  seen  —  man's  ear  hath  not 
heard  —  and  man's  heart  hath  not  conceived.  We  shall 
long  remember  the  meeting  at  Peoria  bottom,  and  we 
shall  expect  to  see  results  in  the  progress  of  truth  in  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  these  Teetons. 

The  Forty  Years  are  completed.  In  the  meantime, 
many  workers  have  fallen  out  of  the  ranks,  but  the  work 
has  gone  on.  It  has  been  marvelous  in  our  eyes.  At  the 
beginning,  we  were  surrounded  by  the  whole  Sioux  na 
tion,  in  their  ignorance  and  barbarism.  At  the  close  we 
are  surrounded  by  churches  with  native  pastors.  Quite  a 
section  of  the  Sioux  nation  has  become,  in  the  main, 
civilized  and  Christianized.  The  entire  Bible  has  been 
translated  into  the  language  of  the  Dakotas.  The  work 
of  education  has  been  rapidly  progressing.  The  Episco 
palians,  entering  the  field  many  years  after  we  did,  have 
nevertheless,  with  more  men  and  more  means  at  their 
command,  gone  beyond  us  in  the  occupation  of  the  wilder 


FORTY    YEAKS    WITH    THE    SIOUX.  341 

portions.  Their  work  has  enlarged  into  the  bishopric  of 
Niobrara,  which  is  admirably  filled  by  Bishop  Hare. 
Thus  God  has  been  showing  us,  by  his  providence  and 
his  grace,  that  the  red  men  too  may  come  into  the 
Kingdom. 


APPENDIX. 


MONOGRAPHS. 

MRS.  NINA  FOSTER  RIGGS,  REV.  GIDEON  H.  POND, 

SOLOMON,    DR.  T.  S.  WILLIAMSON,    THE 

FAMILY  REUNION,  AND  OTHERS. 


343 


APPENDIX. 

MONOGRAPHS. 


MRS.  NINA  FOSTER  RIGGS. 


CORNELIA  MARGARET,  daughter  of  Hon.  John  B.  Fos 
ter  and  Catharine  McGaw  Foster,  was  born  in  Bangor, 
Me.,  March  19,  1848.  Very  soon  after  she  left  us,  on 
August  5,  1878,  there  appeared  appreciative  testimonials 
of  her  life  and  character  in  the  Advance,  in  the  lapi 
Oaye,  and  in  Life  and  Light.  In  preparing  this  mono 
graph,  the  writer  will  make  free  use  of  all  these  materials. 

Rev.  R.  B.  Howard,  while  in  the  Theological  Seminary 
at  Bangor,  knew  her  as  Nina  Foster,  "  a  golden-haired, 
fair-cheeked,  gracefully  formed  little  Sabbath-school 
scholar  of  ten,  at  the  Central  Church.  Her  quick,  laugh 
ing  eye,  her  sensitive  face  reflecting  every  changing 
thought,  her  constant  companionship  of  an  only  sister  a 
little  taller,  her  ready  answers  to  all  Sabbath-school 
questions,  her  intelligent  appreciation  of  the  sermons, 
and  her  sunshiny  presence  at  school  and  at  home,  were 
among  the  impressions  which  her  childhood  gave. 

"  She  lacked  no  means  of  cultivating  the  rare  powers 
of  mind  which  she  early  developed.  Many  things  she 
seemed  to  learn  intuitively.  Her  scholarship  was  bright, 

345 


346  MARY    AND    I. 

quick,  accurate.  Literature  was  her  delight.  Her 
mother's  father,  Judge  McGaw,  whose  white  locks  and 
venerable  presence  then  honored  Bangor,  was  an  inter 
ested  and  judicious  guide  in  the  home  reading. 

"In  social  life  few  shone  more  brilliantly,  or  were 
more  admired  and  sought  after.  In  those  days,  the 
beauty  of  person  of  the  young  lady  was  of  a  rare  and 
noticeable  type.  Her  conversational  powers  were  fasci 
nating.  She  had  by  nature  genuine  histrionic  talent, 
and  in  conversation,  reading,  or  reciting  seemed  to  be 
completely  the  person  she  sought  to  represent.  On  one 
occasion,  by  a  slight  change  of  dress,  voice,  and  manner, 
she  appeared  as  an  aged  widow,  pleading  with  a  high 
officer  of  the  government  at  Washington,  to  help  her 
find  her  son,  lost  in  the  troublous  times  of  the  war." 

The  "only  sister,  a  little  taller,"  Mrs.  Katie  Foster 
Howard,  thus  testifies  of  Nina's  early  life :  — 

"  When  a  little  child,  from  eight  to  twelve  years  old, 
she  and  some  of  her  companions  formed  'a  praying 
circle,'  and  had  a  little  room  in  one  of  their  homes  which 
they  called  The  House  of  Prayer.  They  met  often  in 
this  room,  and  delighted  to  decorate  it  after  their  childish 
fashion. 

"  Another  favorite  occupation  was  the  teaching  of  some 
poor  children  whom  she  and  one  or  two  friends  brought 
out  of  their  dreary  homes  to  the  church  vestibule,  and 
there  taught  to  sew  and  read. 

"  When  eleven  years  old  she  was  examined  by  the 
pastor  and  church  officers  for  admission  to  the  church ; 
they  asked  her  how  long  she  had  loved  Jesus,  and  she 
answered,  '  Oh,  a  great  many  years.' " 

Mrs.  Howard  speaks  of  her  sister  as  "  the  little  girl  in 
the  Eastern  home,  whose  spirituelle  face,  with  its  halo  of 


APPENDIX.  —  MONOGRAPHS.  347 

golden  hair,  seemed  so  much  more  of  heaven  than  of 
earth  as  to  cause  the  frequent,  anxious  comment  that 
this  world  could  not  long  detain  her.  An  active,  happy 
child  among  her  playmates,  her  thoughts  were  often  upon 
heavenly  things,  and  her  desire  was  to  turn  theirs  thither 
ward,  yet  without  anything  morbid  or  unchildlike  in  her 
ways. 

"As  she  grew  to  womanhood,  she  was  the  delight  of 
the  home  which  so  tenderly  shielded  her  from  every  rude 
blast,  and  of  a  large  circle  of  attached  friends.  She 
possessed  those  charms  of  person  and  manners  and 
qualities  of  mind  which  won  admiration,  and  peculiarly 
fitted  her  to  enjoy  and  adorn  society.  So  when  the  time 
came  for  her  to  change  this  for  a  secluded  life,  many 
regretted  that  the  fine  gold  should  be  sent  where  baser 
metal,  as  they  thought,  would  do  as  well ;  that  the  noble 
woman,  so  eminently  fitted  for  usefulness  in  circles  of 
refinement,  should  spend  her  life  among  the  degraded  and 
unappreciative  savages.  But  the  event  has  proved  that 
only  such  a  nature,  abounding  in  resources,  could  be  the 
animating  spirit  of  a  model  home  in  the  wilderness ;  which 
should  be  an  object-lesson  of  Christian  culture  not  only 
to  the  Indian  but  to  the  army  people,  who  were  her  only 
white  neighbors,  and  who  for  her  sake  could  look  with 
interest  on  a  work  too  often  an  object  of  contempt.  And 
thus  the  reflex  influence  upon  those  who  missed  her  from 
their  number,  or  met  her  as  she  journeyed  to  her  field  of 
labor,  has  been  in  proportion  to  the  grace  of  her  refine 
ment  and  the  depth  and  breadth  of  her  character.  God, 
who  spared  not  his  own  Son,  still  gives  his  choicest  ones 
to  the  salvation  of  men." 

While  on  a  visit  to  Chicago,  in  the  family  of  her  sister, 
she  first  became  acquainted  with  Thomas  L.  Riggs,  then 


348  MAKY   AND   I. 

a  student  in  the  theological  seminary.  Their  mutual 
love  soon  compelled  her  to  consider  what  it  would  be  to 
share  in  his  life-work.  She  recognized  its  hardships  and 
deprivations  as  could  hardly  have  been  expected  in  one 
so  inexperienced  in  life's  trials.  She  afterward  often 
playf ully  said  she  was  "  not  a  missionary,  only  a  mission 
ary's  wife."  But  it  was  a  double  consecration,  joyous 
and  entire,  to  the  life  of  wife  and  missionary. 

Thomas  and  Nina  were  married  at  her  home  in  Bangor, 
December  26,  1872.  It  is  said,  "Christian  people,  and 
even  Christian  ministers,  were  inclined  to  say,  '  Why  this 
waste  ? ' '  Some  did  say  it.  Some  spoke  in  bitter  and 
almost  angry  condemnation  of  her  course.  That  this 
beautiful  and  accomplished  girl,  eminently  fitted  to  adorn 
any  society,  should  devote  herself  to  a  missionary  life, 
occasioned  much  comment  in  the  social  circle  in  which 
she  had  been  prominent.  What  could  she  do  for  the 
coarse,  degraded  Indian  women,  that  might  not  be  better 
done  by  a  less  refined,  sensitive,  and  elevated  nature? 
Why  shut  up  her  beauty  and  talents  in  the  log  cabin  of 
an  Indian  missionary  ?  It  was  a  shock  to  some  who  had 
preached  self-sacrifice,  and  a  painful  surprise  to  many 
who  had  been  praying  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  to  send 
laborers.  But  none  of  these  things  moved  her.  There 
has  seldom  been  a  sweeter  and  more  lovely  bride. 
The  parents  too  made  the  consecration,  while  they 
wrestled  in  spirit.  The  father  writes :  "  I  gave  her  up 
when  she  left  us  on  that  winter's  night.  It  was  a  hard 
struggle,  but  I  think  I  gave  her  unconditionally  to  God, 
to  whom  she  so  cheerfully  gave  herself." 

At  this  season  of  the  year,  it  was  not  possible  for  Nina 
to  accompany  her  husband  to  Fort  Sully,  and  so  he  left 
her  at  Gen.  C.  H.  Howard's,  near  Chicago,  to  come  on  in 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  349 

the  early  spring.  This  was  my  first  opportunity  of 
becoming  acquainted  with  "  Mitakosh  Washta,"  as  I  soon 
learned  to  call  her.  General  Howard  accompanied  her  to 
Sioux  City,  and  then  I  became  her  escort  by  railroad  and 
stage  to  Santee  agency,  and  thence  by  steamboat  to 
Sully.  The  boat  was  nearly  two  weeks  on  the  way,  and 
we  took  on  two  companies  of  United  States  troops  at 
Fort  Randall.  The  officers  soon  manifested  a  marked 
admiration  for  the  beauty  and  culture  of  the  Bangor 
lady ;  so  that  afterward,  in  alluding  to  this  little  episode, 
I  used  playfully  to  say  to  Nina  that  I  was  rejoiced  when 
Thomas,  coming  down  the  Missouri  in  his  skiff,  met  us 
and  took  charge  of  his  bride. 

We  had  but  a  few  weeks  to  spend  at  Fort  Sully,  until 
we  should  start  down  to  the  meeting  of  our  annual  Con 
ference,  which  was  held  in  June  that  year,  at  the  Yankton 
agency.  But  those  weeks  were  full  of  pleasure  to  Nina. 
Everything  was  new  and  strange.  She  was  devoid  of 
fear  when  she  sat  in  the  iron  skiff,  and  crossed  the  Big 
Muddy  with  her  husband  at  the  helm.  The  time  came 
to  go  down.  It  was  nearly  noon  on  Monday  when  we 
were  ready  to  start ;  but,  by  hard  driving,  we  were  able 
to  reach  Rev.  John  P.  Williamson's  —  more  than  200 
miles  —  by  the  afternoon  of  Thursday.  Secretary  S.  J. 
Humphrey,  from  Chicago,  was  there,  and  afterward 
wrote  that  for  T.  L.  Riggs  and  the  father,  who  were 
accustomed  to  hard  traveling  and  sleeping  on  the  ground, 
it  was  nothing  very  strange ;  but  for  one  reared  as  Nina 
had  been,  it  was  simply  wonderful. 

This  was  the  first  meeting  of  Martha  Riggs  Morris 
with  her  new  sister.  When  the  latter  had  gone  beyond 
our  ken,  Martha  wrote  an  appreciative  article  for  the 
Word  Carrier:  "Let  me  give  something,"  she  wrote, 


350  MARY    AND   I. 

"  of  the  little  glimpses  I  have  had  of  her  brave,  cheery 
life.  I  may  first  go  back  to  the  time  when  we  first  heard 
of  Nina  Foster  —  who  thought  enough  of  T.  L.  Riggs  and 
the  Indian  work  to  help  him  in  it.  That  was  in  the 
spring-time.  A  few  months  later,  Thomas  had  a  hard 
ride  across  from  Fort  Sully  to  Sisseton  on  horseback, 
accompanied  by  a  soldier  for  guard  and  an  Indian  for 
guide.  He  came  to  attend  the  annual  Conference  of  the 
Dakota  churches,  and  he  showed  us  a  picture  of  the 
young  lady  herself.  A  beautiful  face,  we  all  thought  it 
was.  And  from  what  we  heard  of  Nina  Foster,  we  were 
all  prepared  to  take  her  into  our  hearts,  as  we  did  when 
we  saw  her  afterward. 

"  It  was  in  June  of  the  year  following  that  I  had  my 
first  glimpse  of  her.  I  had  myself  taken  a  tedious  jour 
ney  of  some  three  hundred  miles,  and  the  years  as  well  as 
the  journey  had  worn  upon  me.  So  I  felt  some  trepida 
tion  about  meeting  the  blooming  bride.  But,  on  seeing 
her,  that  soon  vanished,  and  I  had  nothing  left  but 
admiration  for  the  beautiful  sister.  She  told  so  merrily 
how  they  had  strapped  her  in,  to  keep  her  from  falling 
out  of  the  wagon,  and  other  incidents  of  her  unaccus 
tomed  journey.  There  was  an  evident  determination  to 
make  the  best  of  every  experience." 

A  little  while  after  this  Mrs.  Morris  was  called  to  lay 
away  her  blue-eyed  boy  out  of  sight.  Then  Nina's  letter 
was  very  comforting.  "  I  have  wept,"  she  says,  "  with 
you  for  the  dear  little  baby  form  laid  away  from  your 
arms  to  its  last  sleep ;  and  I  think  of  your  words,  '  Noth 
ing  to  do  any  more.'  Ah !  my  dear  sister,  He  will  not 
so  leave  you  comfortless.  He  who  forgot  not,  in  the  last 
hours  of  his  earthly  life,  to  give  to  the  aching  mother- 
heart  a  new  care  and  love,  will  not  forget,  I  think,  to 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  351 

bestow  on  your  emptied  hands  some  new  duty  which 
shall  grow  to  be  a  joy." 

At  the  meeting  of  the  American  Board  at  Minneapolis 
in  the  autumn  of  1873,  Mrs.  Nina  Riggs  was  present,  and 
addressed  the  ladies  of  the  Woman's  Board,  asking  for  a 
young  lady  companion  in  her  far-off  field.  To  this  call 
Miss  Lizzie  Bishop  of  Northfield  responded,  and  gave 
the  remainder  of  her  bright,  true  life  to  help  on  the 
work  at  Fort  Sully.  Nina  visited  her  sister  in  Chicago, 
and  charmed  them  all  by  reciting  her  strange  experi 
ences  of  the  summer.  "  Her  buoyant  spirits  and  faculty 
for  seeing  the  droll  side  of  everything  helped  to  make 
the  sketch  a  bright  one.  Her  sense  of  humor  and  keen 
wit  has  lightened  many  a  load  for  herself  and  others ; 
the  more  forlorn  and  hopeless  the  situation,  the  more 
elastic  her  spirits.  How  often  have  those  of  her  own 
household,  wearied  with  severe  labor  and  weighed  down 
with  care,  been  compelled  to  laugh,  almost  against  their 
will,  by  her  irresistible  drollery,  and  thus  the  current  of 
thought  was  turned  and  the  burden  half  thrown  aside." 

In  the  summer  of  1874  baby  Theodore  was  born,  and 
none  from  Fort  Sully  came  to  our  annual  meeting.  On 
my  way  from  a  visit  to  Fort  Berthold,  down  the  Mis 
souri  River,  I  stopped  off  for  a  few  days.  They  were 
then  occupying  Hope  Station,  across  the  river  from  the 
fort.  Both  Miss  Bishop  and  Mrs.  Nina  Riggs  I  found 
very  enthusiastic  over  their  work  for  the  Teeton  women. 

When  another  year  had  been  completed,  Lizzie  Bishop 
had  gone  home  to  die,  and  Nina  Riggs  made  a  visit  to 
her  friends  in  the  East.  The  Board  met  in  Chicago  that 
autumn,  and  Mrs.  Riggs  again  addressed  the  ladies. 
"Two  years  ago,"  she  said,  "at  a  meeting  in  Minneapo 
lis,  I  made  a  request  which  was  promptly  answered.  I 


352  MARY    AND    I. 

asked  for  a  young  lady  to  go  back  with  me  to  the  mis 
sion  work.  I  find  her  name  is  not  on  the  rolls.  But  if 
ever  a  brave  life  should  be  recorded,  and  the  name  of  an 
earnest  woman  be  loved  and  remembered  by  all,  it  is 
that  of  Miss  Lizzie  Bishop  of  Northfield,  Minn.  We 
had  hoped  that  she  might  return,  but  the  Lord  has  not 
seen  fit  to  allow  that.  He  calls  her  to  himself  soon. 
For  the  past  two  years  I  have  been  at  different  stations. 
I  was  at  Hope  Station,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Missouri. 
Now  I  am  at  Bogue  Station,  fifteen  miles  below  Fort 
Sully,  on  the  east  side.  Since  I  have  been  there,  I  have 
met  a  great  many  women.  At  first  they  all  seemed  to 
me  very  degraded;  but  I  have  come  not  only  to  feel 
interested  in  many  of  them,  but  to  love  some  of  them 
with  a  very  deep  love."  So  spake  Nina ;  and  when  she 
sat  down,  a  telegram  was  read  that  the  good  and  brave 
Lizzie  Bishop  had  already  entered  in  through  the  gates 
of  pearl,  into  "Jerusalem  the  golden." 

Two  others,  Miss  Mary  C.  Collins  and  Miss  Emma- 
retta  Whipple,  were  ready  to  start  back  with  Mrs. 
Riggs.  So  the  vacant  place  was  more  than  filled,  and 
they  all  girded  themselves  for  a  hard  winter's  work. 

A  little  before  this  time,  Nina  sent  to  the  Word 
Carrier  a  short  bit  of  poetry,  which  seems  to  embody 
her  own  wrestling  with  doubt  in  others.  The  last  stanza 
reads :  — 

"  With  daring  heart,  I  too  have  tried 

To  know  the  height  and  depth  of  God  above; 
And  can  I  wonder  that  I  too  walked  blind, 

And  felt  stern  Justice  in  the  place  of  Love  ? 
Above  the  child,  the  sun  shines  on  ; 

Above  me  too  One  reigns  I  cannot  see; 
Yet  all  around  I  feel  both  warmth  and  power; 

If  God  is  not,  whence  can  their  coming  be  ?  " 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  353 

In  September,  1876,  the  great  gathering  of  the  Dakota 
mission  was  held  in  the  new  Ascension  church,  on  the 

,  Sisseton  reservation.  Mrs.  Morris  writes  :  "  We  looked 
out  eagerly  for  the  travelers  from  Fort  Sully  way.  We 
hoped  they  would  come  a  few  days  beforehand,  so  that 
we  might  have  more  of  their  companionship.  But  they 
did  not  come.  And  as  we  had  to  be  on  hand  in  the 
Ascension  neighborhood,  ten  miles  away,  to  entertain  the 

.  missionaries  that  might  come,  we  shut  up  our  house,  and 
went  on  without  the  Fort  Sully  friends.  It  was  Friday 
noon  when  they  arrived,  and  received  a  glad  welcome 
from  all." 

Thomas  and  Nina  and  their  little  lad  Theodore,  now 
two  years  old,  who  amused  every  one  with  his  quaint 
sayings,  together  with  Miss  Collins  and  Miss  Whipple, 
with  all  their  personal  and  camping  baggage,  had  been 
packed  for  eight  days  into  a  small  two-horse  buggy. 
The  journey  of  250  miles,  the  way  they  traveled,  over 
a  country  uninhabited,  was  not  without  its  romance. 
"  Not  the  least  of  the  enjoyment  of  this  '  feast  of  days,' 
were  the  bits  of  talk  sandwiched  in  here  and  there  be 
tween  meetings,  and  caring  for  the  children  and  provid 
ing  for  the  guests.  As  we  baked  the  bread  and  watched 
over  the  two  cousins,  Theodore  and  Mary  Theodora,  so 
nearly  of  an  age,  we  had  many  a  pleasant  chat  —  Nina 
and  I.  She  gave  me  an  insight  into  their  happy  home- 
life,  and  I  longed  to  know  more.  She  told,  too,  of  her 
special  work  in  visiting  the  homes  of  the  Teetons,  and 
prescribing  for  the  sick.  At  the  special  meeting  held  for 
the  women,  Nina  made  a  few  remarks,  winning  all  hearts 
by  her  grace  of  manners,  as  well  as  by  her  lovely  face. 
Now  that  she  is  gone,  the  Dakota  women  speak  of  her 
as  « the  beautiful  woman  who  spoke  so  well,' " 


354  MARY    AND    I. 

"  To  all  who  come  I  wish  my  home  to  seem  a  pleasant 
home,"  is  a  remark  which  Miss  Collins  accredits  to  Nina. 
So  indeed  we  found  it  in  the  months  of  August  and  Sep 
tember  of  1877.  The  dear  Miss  Whipple  had  just 
stepped  into  the  boat  at  Chicago  which  carried  her  to 
the  farther  shore.  Miss  Collins  was  mourning  over  her 
departed  comrade  while  making  out  the  visit  to  her 
friends.  By  appointment  I  met  on  the  way,  Gen. 
Charles  H.  Howard  of  the  Advance,  who,  with  his  fam-  • 
ily,  was  bound  for  Fort  Sully.  We  were  prospered  in 
our  journey  up  the  Missouri,  and  gladly  welcomed  into 
the  mission  home  on  Peoria  bottom.  The  two  sisters 
met  and  passed  some  happy  weeks  in  the  home  of  the 
younger  one.  Mrs.  Howard  thus  describes  that  home  in 
those  August  days :  "  Its  treeless  waste  lay  under  a 
scorching  sun.  Beneath  a  bluff  which  overlooks  the 
river  lowlands,  nestled  a  solitary  green  enclosure  around 
a  long,  low  dwelling,  whose  aspect  was  of  comfort  and 
of  home.  The  sunshine  which  withered  the  surrounding 
country  was  not  the  gentle  power  under  which  had 
sprung  up  this  oasis  in  the  desert.  The  light  within  the 
house,  whose  sweet  radiance  beautified  the  humble  dwell 
ing,  and  shone  forth  upon  the  wilderness  around,  was 
the  fair  soul,  whose  heaven-reflected  glory  touched  all 
who  came  within  its  ray." 

To  the  same  effect  is  Miss  Collins'  testimony :  "  I 
think  no  one  ever  entered  her  home  without  feeling  that 
the  very  house  was  purified  by  her  presence.  I  remem 
ber  well  just  how  she  studied  our  different  tastes.  She 
knew  every  member  of  the  family  thoroughly ;  and  our 
happiness  was  consulted  in  all  things."  So  we  all 
thought.  Nina  presided  in  her  own  home,  albeit  that 
home  was  in  Dakota  land,  with  a  queenly  grace. 


APPENDIX. — MONOGRAPHS.  355 

About  the  middle  of  that  September  our  annual  Con 
ference  met  in  their  new  and  not  yet  finished  chapel,  on 
Peoria  bottom.  Miss  Collins  did  not  get  back  until  the 
close  of  the  meeting.  Besides  her  guests,  Mrs.  Nina 
Kiggs  had  a  good  deal  of  company  from  Fort  Sully  and 
the  agency.  But  it  was  all  entertained  with  the  same 
quiet  dignity.  Of  this  visit  to  her  sister,  Mrs.  Howard 
wrote  afterward :  "I  do  not  know  how  to  be  grateful 
enough  that  we  spent  last  summer  (1877)  together;  it  is 
a  season  of  blessed  memory." 

To  this  I  add  :  I  too  have  one  last  picture  of  Nina  in 
my  memory.  I  was  to  return  to  Sisseton  with  the  Ind 
ians  who  had  come  over  to  our  annual  Conference.  They 
went  up  on  Monday  to  Cheyenne  agency  to  get  rations 
for  the  journey.  On  Tuesday  afternoon  Thomas  arranged 
to  take  me  out  fifteen  miles  to  meet  them.  Thinking  they 
would  go  out  and  return  that  evening  a  party  was  made 
up.  The  two  sisters,  Mrs.  Howard  and  Nina,  and  little 
Theodore  and  Thomas  and  myself  in  a  buggy,  and 
Gen.  C.  H.  Howard  and  "Mack"  on  ponies,  we  had  a 
pleasant  ride  out.  But  it  was  too  late  for  them  to  return. 
The  Dakota  friends  gave  us  of  their  fresh  meat,  and 
with  the  provisions  Nina  had  bountifully  supplied  for  my 
journey,  we  all  made  a  good  supper  and  breakfast,  and 
had  an  abundance  left.  The  next  morning  we  separated. 
That  was  my  last  sight  of  Nina. 

In  midsummer  of  1878,  the  time  for  her  departure 
came.  She  seemed  to  have  a  premonition  of  its  coming. 
Miss  Collins  writes :  "  The  last  summer  of  her  precious 
life  seemed  a  very  fitting  one  for  the  last.  She  labored 
earnestly  for  the  conversion  of  her  boy,  and  said  :  '  If  I 
should  die  and  leave  my  boy,  I  should  feel  so  much  bet 
ter  satisfied  to  go  if  he  had  that  stronghold,'  " 


356  MARY    AND    I. 

In  the  Word  Carrier  for  September  appeared  this 
notice:  "Our  beloved  Nina  Foster  Riggs,  wife  of  Rev. 
T.  L.  Riggs  of  Bogue  Station,  near  Fort  Sully,  has  heard 
the  Master's  call,  and  gone  up  higher.  She  was  taken 
away  in  child-birth,  on  the  5th  of  August.  Hers  was  a 
beautiful  life,  blossoming  out  into  what  we  supposed 
would  be  a  grand  fruitage  of  blessing  to  the  Dakotas.  It 
is  cut  off  suddenly !  *  Even  so,  Father,  for  so  it  seemeth 
good  in  thy  sight.'  IVe  are  dumb,  because  tliou  didst  it !  " 

Two  days  after  her  death,  Thomas  wrote:  "Dear 
Father  —  Mitakosh  Washta  has  been  taken  from  us.  My 
good  Nina  has  gone.  She  was  taken  sick  Saturday  night. 
Before  the  light  of  the  Sabbath,  violent  convulsions  had 
set  in.  We  got  the  post  surgeon  and  Mrs.  Crocker  here 
as  soon  as  possible ;  but,  though  every  effort  was  made, 
the  spasms  could  not  be  prevented,  and  our  dear  one  sank 
gradually  out  of  reach.  Early  Monday  morning,  after 
child-birth,  the  mother  seemed  to  brighten  a  bit;  but 
soon  our  gladness  was  turned  to  sadness,  for  she  did  not 
rally.  God  took  her.  She  was  his.  We  buried  the 
body  —  the  beautiful  house  of  the  more  beautiful  spirit  — 
in  the  yard  near  her  window,  yesterday.  May  God  help 
us." 

Only  a  few  days  before,  a  kind  Providence  had  guided 
Arther  H.  Day,  a  cousin  of  Nina's,  from  his  work  in  the 
office  of  the  Advance,  in  Chicago,  and  Robert  B.  Riggs 
from  his  teaching  in  Beloit  College,  up  to  Peoria  bottom, 
for  a  little  rest.  And  so  they  were  there  to  help  and 
give  sympathy.  Of  this  event  Mr.  Day  wrote  :  "  Rarely 
is  it  the  lot  of  one  so  blessed  with  loving  relatives  and 
friends  to  pass  away  surrounded  by  so  few  to  sympathize, 
and  to  be  buried  with  so  few  to  weep.  Three  relatives 
and  nine  other  white  friends  stood  alone  by  her  grave. 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  357 

and  the  many  hundreds  in  the  far  East  knew  not  of  the 
scene.  I  say  white  friends,  because  I  would  not  ignore 
the  presence  of  those  many  dusky  faces  which  looked  on 
in  sorrow,  because  their  friend  was  dead. 

"  About  noon  on  Tuesday,  August  6,  the  funeral  ser 
vice  was  conducted  by  Chaplain  Crocker.  The  same 
hymn  was  sung  that,  by  Nina's  own  choice,  had  been  sung 
at  her  wedding  :  — 

"  *  Guide  me,  O  thou  great  Jehovah.' 

One  room  of  the  house  was  filled  with  Indians,  and  the 
service  was  partly  in  the  native  language.  Her  grave 
was  made  near  the  window  of  her  room,  where  she  so 
often  had  beheld  the  sunset ;  and  as  kindly  hands  laid 
her  body  there,  surrounded  by  beautiful  flowers,  the  chap 
lain  said  :  '  Never  was  more  precious  dust  laid  in  Dakota 
soil  —  never  more  hopeful  seed  planted  for  a  spiritual  har 
vest  among  the  Dakota  people.' ': 

This  beautiful  summing-up  of  her  character  appeared  as 
an  editorial  in  the  Advance,  by  Rev.  Simeon  Gilbert :  — 

"  Here  was  a  young  woman  of  extraordinary  beauty  of  person, 
of  still  more  noticeable  symmetry  and  completeness  of  mental  en 
dowment,  sweetness  and  nobility  of  disposition,  brightness  and 
elasticity  of  temperament;  quickly,  keenly  sympathetic  with 
others'  joys  and  sorrows  —  but  who  had  never  known  a  grief  of 
her  own;  converted  in  infancy,  reared  in  one  of  the  happiest  of 
earnest  Christian  homes,  and  favored  with  as  fine  social  and  edu 
cational  advantages  as  the  country  affords;  with  too  much  sense 
to  be  affected  by  mere  'romance,'  yet  deeply  alive  to  all  the 
poetry  alike  in  literature  and  in  real  life;  and  withal,  from  early 
childhood,  with  a  spiritual  imagination  exquisitely  alive  to  the 
realness  and  the  nearness  of  unseen  things,  and  the  all-controlling 
sweep  of  the  motives  springing  therefrom;  —  rarely  does  one  meet 
a  young  person  better  fitted  at  once  to  enjoy  and  to  adorn  what  is 


358  MARY    AND    I. 

best  in  American  Christian  homes.  At  the  age  of  twenty-four 
she  marries  a  young  man  just  out  of  the  seminary,  and  goes  forth 
with  him  beyond  the  frontiers  of  civilization,  into  the  very  heart 
f  savage  Indian  tribes.  What  a  sacrifice;  what  a  venture;  what 
cvrtain-coming  solicitudes,  perils,  cares,  deprivations,  hardships, 
loneliness,  and  mountainous  discouragements!  And  there  for  the 
short  period  of  less  than  five  years  she  lives,  when  suddenly  the 
young  missionary  is  left  alone,  longing  for  the  '  touch  of  a  van 
ished  hand  and  the  sound  of  a  voice  that  is  still.' 

"  Now,  a  case  like  this  must  set  one  to  studying  over  again  what, 
after  all,  is  the  true  philosophy  of  life,  and  what,  on  the  whole, 
is  the  wisest  economy  of  personal  forces  in  the  church's  work  of 
Christianizing  the  world.  As  helping  to  a  right  answer,  let  us 
note  a  few  facts :  — 

"1.  It  costs  to  save  a  lost  world;  and  nothing  is  wasted  that 
serves  well  that  end.  God  himself  has  given  for  this  purpose  the 
choicest,  the  highest,  and  the  best  which  it  was  possible  for  even 
him  to  give. 

"2.  Heathen  people,  even  savages,  as  we  call  them,  are  not  in 
sensible  to  the  unique  fascination,  and  power  to  subdue  and  inspire, 
which  belong  to  what  is  really  most  beautiful  in  aspect,  manner, 
mind,  and  character.  Often  it  is  to  them  as  if  they  had  seen  a 
vision,  or  dreamed  a  startling  dream  of  possibilities  of  which  they 
had  known  nothing,  and  could  have  known  nothing,  until  they 
saw  it,  and  the  sight  awakened  into  being  and  action  the  diviner 
elements  of  their  own  hidden  nature.  The  Word  of  God  is  one 
form  of  revelation,  but  the  work  of  God  in  a  peculiarly  complete 
and  lovely  character  is  another  revelation,  and  one  that  unmistak 
ably  interprets  itself.  There  is  as  much  need  of  the  one  as  there 
is  of  the  other.  The  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God 
:n  the  face  of  Christ  must,  in  most  cases  at  least,  first  be  seen 
reflected  '  in  the  face '  of  some  of  his  disciples.  The  more  dense 
the  darkness,  the  more  intense  must  be  the  shining  of  the  love 
and  the  beauty  of  the  truth  which  are  to  enlighten,  captivate,  lead 
forth,  and  refine.  Among  all  the  teepees  and  huts  of  that  Indian 
reservation,  as  also  throughout  the  barracks  and  quarters  of  the 
military  post  at  Fort  Sully,  Mrs.  Riggs  was  known,  and  the  potent 
charm  of  her  personal  influence  and  home-life  was  deeply  felt.  It 
is  largely  due  to  such  persons  that  the  cause  of  missions,  even 
among  the  most  degraded,  commands  the  respect,  if  not  the 


APPENDIX.  —  MONOGRAPHS.  359 

veneration,  of  those  who  otherwise  might  have  looked  on  deri 
sively. 

"  3.  Nor,  again,  are  the  lives  of  such  persons  wasted  as  regards 
their  influence  upon  those  who  knew  them,  or  shall  come  to  know 
of  them;  at  home.  'How  far  that  little  candle  throws  its  beams; 
so  shines  a  good  example  ' ;  and  in  instances  like  these  it  shines 
more  effectively  than,  perhaps,  in  any  other  circumstances  would 
have  been  possible.  If  one  were  to  mention  a  score  of  American 
women  who  have  exerted  most  influence  in  determining  the  best 
characteristics  of  American  women,  half  of  them,  we  suspect, 
would  be  names  of  the  women  who,  leaving  home  and  coun 
try,  went  far  forth  seeking  to  multiply  similar  homes  in  other 
countries. 

"4.  Nor,  again,  is  the  strangely  beautiful  life  wasted  because  cut 
short  so  early  in  its  course.  The  ointment  most  precious  was 
never  more  so  than  when  its  box  was  broken  and  the  odor  of  it 
filled  all  the  house.  This  that  this  young  missionary  has  done, 
animated  by  the  love  of  the  Master  and  a  sacred  passion  for  lift 
ing  up  the  lowly,  will  be  spoken  of  as  a  memorial  of  her  in  all 
the  churches;  and  in  not  a  few  homes,  of  the  rich  as  of  the  poor, 
will  be  felt  the  sweet  constraint  of  her  beautiful,  joyous,  conse 
crated  life.  She  was  not  alone;  there  are  many  more  like  her; 
and,  best  of  all,  there  are  to  be  vastly  more  yet,  who  will  not  be 
deaf  to  '  the  high  calling.'  The  Master  has  need  of  them.  The 
way,  on  the  whole,  is  infinitely  attractive.  Thanks  for  the  life  of 
this  woman  who  did  so  much,  from  first  to  last,  to  make  it  ap 
pear  so  ! 

"  And  thanks  too  for  such  a  death,  which,  coming  in  the  sweet- 
•st  and  completest  blooming  of  life's  beauty,  when  not  a  fault 
had  stayed  to  mar  it,  and  no  wrasting  had  ever  touched  it — an 
ending  which  transfigures  all  that  came  before  it,  and  which  now, 
in  the  mingling  of  retrospect  and  prospect,  helps  those  who  knew 
her  to  a  deeply  surprised  sense  of  the  fact  that, 

'  To  Death  it  is  given, 
To  see  how  this  world  is  embosomed  in  heaven.'  " 

To  us,  who  are  blind  and  cannot  see  afar  off,  it  is  im 
possible  to  perceive,  and  difficult  to  believe,  that  the 
taking  away  in  the  vigor  of  womanhood  of  one  who  was 


360 


MARY  AND  I. 


showing  such  a  capacity  and  adaptability  for  the  work  of 
elevating  the  Teetons  can  be  made  to  subserve  the  fur 
therance  of  the  cause  of  Christ.  But  we  must  believe 
that  God,  who  sees  the  end  from  the  beginning,  and  who 
makes  no  mistakes,  will  bring  out  of  this  sore  bereave 
ment  a  harvest  of  joy ;  and  that  that  grave  under  the 
window  of  the  mission  house  in  Peoria  bottom  will  be  a 
testimony  to  the  love  of  Jesus  and  the  power  of  his  Gos 
pel,  that  will  thrill  and  uplift  many  hearts  from  Bangor 
to  Fort  Sully.  It  was  a  beautiful  life  of  faith  and  ser 
vice  ;  and  it  has  only  gone  to  be  perfected  in  the  shadow 
of  the  Tree  of  Life. 

S.  R.  R. 


REV.   GIDEON  H.  POND. 


A   SUCCESSFUL   LIFE. 

BORN  and  brought  up  in  Litchfield  county,  in  a  town 
adjoining  Washington,  Connecticut,  Rev.  George  Bush- 
nell  visited  that  hill  country  in  his  youth,  and  was 
deeply  impressed  with  the  manifest  and  pervading 
religious  element  in  the  community.  Taken  there 
by  a  special  providence,  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century  ago,  and  enjoying  the  privilege  of  a  visit  in 
some  of  the  families,  it  seemed  to  me  that  it  had  been 
a  good  place  to  raise  men.  This  was  on  the  line  of  the 
impression  made  upon  me  years  before  that.  When  I 
first  met,  in  the  land  of  the  Dakotas,  the  brothers  Sam 
uel  W.  and  Gideon  H.  Pond,  they  were  both  over  six 
feet  high,  and  "  seemed  the  children  of  a  king." 

In  this  hill  town  of  Washington,  on  the  30th  of  June, 
1810,  Gideon  Hollister,  the  younger  of  the  two  brothers, 
was  born.  His  parents  \vere  Elnathan  Judson  and  Sarah 
Hollister  Pond.  Gideon  was  the  fifth  child,  and  so  was 
called  by  the  Dakotas  Ilakay.  Of  his  childhood  and 
youth  almost  nothing  is  known  to  the  writer.  He  had 
the  advantage  of  a  New  England  common-school  educa 
tion  ;  perhaps  nothing  more.  As  he  grew  very  rapidly 
and  came  to  the  size  and  strength  of  man  early,  he  made 
a  full  hand  in  the  harvest  field  at  the  age  of  sixteen.  To 
this  ambition  to  be  counted  a  man  and  do  a  man's  work 

361 


362  MARY    AND    I. 

when  as  yet  he  should  have  been  a  boy,  he  in  after  life 
ascribed  some  of  his  infirmities.  This  ambition  con 
tinued  with  him  through  life,  and  occasional  over-work  at 
last  undermined  a  constitution  that  might,  with  care  and 
God's  blessing,  have  continued  to  the  end  of  the  century. 

He  came  to  the  land  of  the  Dakotas,  now  Minnesota, 
in  the  spring  of  1834.  The  older  brother,  Samuel,  had 
come  out  as  far  as  Galena,  111.,  in  the  summer  previous. 
The  pioneer  minister  of  that  country  of  lead  was  Rev. 
Aratus  Kent,  who  desired  to  retain  Mr.  Pond  as  an 
adjutant  in  his  great  and  constantly  enlarging  work; 
but  Mr.  Pond  had  heard  of  the  Sioux,  or  Dakotas,  for 
whose  souls  no  one  cared,  and,  having  decided  to  go  to 
them,  he  sent  for  his  brother  Gideon  to  accompany  him. 

When  they  reached  Fort  Snelling,  and  made  known 
their  errand  to  the  commanding  officer  of  the  post, 
Major  Bliss,  and  to  the  resident  Indian  agent,  Major 
Taliaferro,  they  received  the  hearty  approval  and  co-op 
eration  of  both,  and  the  agent  at  once  recommended 
them  to  commence  work  with  the  Dakotas  of  the  Lake 
Calhoun  village,  where  some  steps  had  already  been 
taken  in  the  line  of  civilization.  There,  on  the  margin 
of  the  lake,  they  built  their  log  cabin.  Last  summer 
Mr.  King's  grand  Pavilion,  so  called,  was  completed  on 
the  same  spot,  which  gave  occasion  for  Mr.  Gideon  H. 
Pond  to  tell  the  story  of  this  first  effort  in  that  line : 

"Just  forty-three  years  previous  to  the  occurrence  above  al 
luded  to,  011  the  same  beautiful  site,  was  completed  an  humble 
edifice,  built  by  the  hands  of  two  inexperienced  New  England 
boys,  just  setting  out  in  life-work.  The  foundation-stones  of  that 
hut  were  removed  to  make  place  for  the  present  Pavilion,  per 
chance  compose  a  part  of  it.  The  old  structure  was  of  oak  logs, 
carefully  peeled.  The  peeling  was  a  mistake.  Twelve  feet  by 


APPENDIX.  —  MONOGRAPHS.  363 

• 

sixteen,  and  eight  feet  high,  were  the  dimensions  of  the  edifice. 
Straight  poles  from  the  tamarack  grove  west  of  the  lake  formed 
the  timbers  of  the  roof,  and  the  roof  itself  was  of  the  bark  of  trees 
which  grew  on  the  bank  of  what  is  now  called  '  Bassett's  Creek,' 
fastened  with  strings  of  the  inner  bark  of  the  bass  wood.  A  par 
tition  of  small  logs  divided  the  house  into  two  rooms,  and  split 
logs  furnished  material  for  a  floor.  The  ceiling  was  of  slabs  from 
the  old  government  saw-mill,  through  the  kindness  of  Major 
Bliss,  who  was  in  command  of  Fort  Snelling.  The  door  was 
made  of  boards  split  from  a  log  with  an  axe,  having  wooden 
hinges  and  fastenings,  and  was  locked  by  pulling  in  the  latch- 
string.  The  single  window  was  the  gift  of  the  kind-hearted  Major 
Lawrence  Taliaferro,  United  States  Indian  agent.  The  cash  cost 
of  the  building  was  one  shilling,  New  York  currency,  for  nails 
used  in  and  about  the  door.  *  The  formal  opening '  exercises 
consisted  in  reading  a  section  from  the  old  book  by  the  name  of 
BIBLE,  and  prayer  to  Him  who  was  its  acknowledged  author. 
The  'banquet'  consisted  of  mussels  from  the  lake,  flour  and 
water.  The  ground  was  selected  by  the  Indian  chief  of  the 
Lake  Calhoun  band  of  Dakotas,  Man-of-the-sky,  by  which 
he  showed  good  taste.  The  reason  he  gave  for  the  selection 
was  that  'from  that  point  the  loons  would  be  visible  on  the 
lake.' 

"  The  old  chief  and  his  pagan  people  had  their  homes  on  the 
surface  of  that  ground  in  the  bosom  of  which  now  sleep  the 
bodies  of  deceased  Christians  from  the  city  of  Minneapolis, 
the  Lake  Wood  cemetery,  over  which  these  old  eyes  have 
witnessed,  dangling  in  the  night  breeze,  many  a  Chippewa 
scalp,  in  the  midst  of  horrid  chants,  yells,  and  wails,  widely 
contrasting  with  the  present  stillness  of  that  quiet  home  of 
those 

'  Who  sleep  the  years  away.' 

That  hut  was  the  home  of  the  first  citizen  settlers  of  Hennepin 
county,  perhaps  of  Minnesota,  the  first  school-room,  the  first 
house  for  divine  worship,  and  the  first  mission  station  among  the 
Dakota  Indians." 

The  departure  of  Mr.  Pond  called  forth  from  Gen. 
Henry  H.  Sibley  so  just  and  beautiful  a  tribute,  that  I 


364  MARY    AND    I. 

• 

can  not  forbear  inserting  a  portion,  from  the  Pioneer 
Press  of  St.  Paul :  — 

"  When  the  writer  came  to  this  country,  in  1834,  he  did  not  ex 
pect  to  meet  a  single  white  man,  except  those  composing  the 
garrison  at  Fort  Snelling,  a  few  government  officials  attached  to 
the  department  of  Indian  affairs,  and  the  traders  and  voyageurs 
employed  by  the  great  fur  company  in  its  business.  There  was 
but  one  house,  or,  rather,  log  cabin,  along  the  entire  distance  of 
nearly  300  miles  between  Prairie  du  Chien  and  St.  Peters,  now 
Mendota,  and  that  was  at  a  point  below  Lake  Pepin,  near  the 
present  town  of  Wabashaw.  What  was  his  surprise  then  to  find 
that  his  advent  had  been  preceded  in  the  spring  of  the  same  year 
by  two  young  Americans,  Samuel  W.  Pond  and  Gideon  H.  Pond, 
brothers,  scarcely  out  of  their  teens,  who  had  built  for  them 
selves  a  small  hut  at  the  Indian  village  of  Lake  Calhouu,  and 
had  determined  to  consecrate  their  lives  to  the  work  of  civilizing 
and  Christianizing  the  wild  Sioux.  For  many  long  years  these 
devoted  men  labored  in  the  cause,  through  manifold  diffi 
culties  and  discouragements,  sustained  by  a  faith  that  the  seed 
sown  would  make  itself  manifest  in  God's  good  time.  The  ef 
forts  then  made  to  reclaim  the  savages  from  their  mode  of  life, 
the  influence  of  their  blameless  and  religious  walk  and  conversa 
tion  upon  those  with  whom  they  were  brought  in  daily  contact, 
and  the  self-denial  and  personal  sacrifices  required  at  their 
hands,  are  doubtless  treasured  up  in  a  higher  than  human 
record." 

General  Sibley  mentions  an  incident  belonging  to  this 
period  of  their  residence  at  Lake  Calhoun,  which  never 
before  came  to  my  knowledge  :  — 

"  Gifted  with  an  uncommonly  fine  constitution,  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  met  with  an  accident  in  his  early  days,  from  the  effects 
of  which  it  is  questionable  if  he  ever  entirely  recovered.  He 
broke  through  the  ice  at  Lake  Harriet  in  the  early  part  of  the 
winter,  and  as  there  was  no  one  at  hand  to  afford  aid,  he  only 
saved  his  life  after  a  desperate  struggle,  by  continuing  to  fracture 
the  frozen  surface  until  he  reached  shallow  water,  when  he  sue- 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  365 

ceeded  in  extricating  himself.  His  long  immersion  and  exhaustive 
efforts  brought  on  a  severe  attack  of  pneumonia,  which  for  many 
days  threatened  a  fatal  termination." 


My  own  personal  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Pond  com 
menced  in  the  summer  of  1837.  He  was  then,  and  had 
been  for  a  year  previous,  at  Lac-qui-parle.  In  September 
my  wife  and  I  joined  that  station,  and  the  first  event 
occurring  after  that,  which  has  impressed  itself  upon  my 
memory,  was  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Pond  and  Miss  Sarah 
Poao-e,  sister  of  Mrs.  Dr.  Williamson.  This  was  the 

o  '  . 

first  marriage  ceremony  I  had  been  called  upon  to  per 
form  ;  and  Mr.  Pond  signalized  it  by  making  a  feast,  and 
calling,  according  to  the  Saviour's  injunction,  "the  poor, 
the  maimed,  the  halt,  and  the  blind."  And  there  was  a 
plenty  of  such  to  be  called  in  that  Dakota  village.  They 
could  not  recompense  him,  but  "  he  shall  be  recompensed 
at  the  resurrection  of  the  just." 

Mr.  Pond  had  long  been  yearning  to  see  what  was  in 
side  of  an  Indian.  He  sometimes  said  he  wanted  to  be  an 
Indian,  if  only  for  a  little  while,  that  he  might  know  how 
an  Indian  felt,  and  by  what  motives  he  could  be  moved. 
When  the  early  spring  of  1838  came,  and  the  ducks 
began  to  come  northward,  a  half-dozen  Dakota  families 
started  from  Lac-qui-parle  to  hunt  and  trap  on  the  upper 
part  of  the  Chippewa  River,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
where  the  town  of  Benson  now  is.  Mr.  Pond  went 
with  them  and  was  gone  two  weeks.  It  was  in  the 
month  of  April,  and  the  streams  were  flooded  and  the 
water  was  cold.  There  should  have  been  enough  of 
game  easily  obtained  to  feed  the  party.  But  it  did  not 
prove  so.  A  cold  spell  came  on,  the  ducks  disappeared, 
and  Mr.  Pond  and  his  Indian  hunters  were  reduced  to 


366  MARY    AND    I. 

scanty  fare,  and  sometimes  they  had  nothing  for  a  whole 
day.  But  Mr.  Pond  was  seeing  inside  of  Indians  and 
was  quite  willing  to  starve  a  good  deal.  However,  his 
stay  with  them,  and  their  hunt  for  that  time  as  well,  was 
suddenly  terminated,  by  the  appearance  of  the  Ojibwa 
chief  Hole-in-the-Day  and  ten  men  with  him.  They  came 
to  smoke  the  peace-pipe,  they  said.  They  were  royally 
feasted  by  three  of  the  families,  who  killed  their  dogs 
to  feed  the  strangers,  who,  in  turn,  arose  in  the  night 
and  killed  the  Dakotas.  As  God  would  have  it,  Mr. 
Pond  was  not  then  with  those  three  tents,  and  so  he 
escaped. 

No  one  had  started  with  more  of  a  determination  to 
master  the  Dakota  language  than  Gideon  H.  Pond.  And 
no  one  of  the  older  missionaries  succeeded  so  well  in 
learning  to  talk  just  like  a  Dakota.  Indeed,  he  must 
have  had  a  peculiar  aptitude  for  acquiring  language ;  for 
in  these  first  years  of  missionary  life,  he  learned  to  read 
French  and  Latin  and  Greek,  so  that  the  second  Mrs. 
Pond  writes :  "  When  I  came,  and  for  a  number  of 
years,  he  read  from  the  Greek  Testament  at  our  family 
worship  in  the  morning.  Afterward  he  used  his  Latin 
Bible,  and  still  later  his  French  Testament." 

In  this  line  of  literary  work  General  Sibley's  testimony 
is  appreciative.  He  says  :  — 

"  Indeed,  to  them,  and  to  their  veteran  co-laborers,  Rev.  T.  S. 
Williamson  and  Rev.  S.  R.  Riggs,  the  credit  is  to  be  ascribed  of 
having  produced  this  rude  and  rich  Dakota  tongue  to  the  learned 
world  in  a  written  and  systematic  shape,  the  lexicon  prepared  by 
their  joint  labors  forming  one  of  the  publications  of  the  Smith 
sonian  Institute  at  Washington  City,  which  has  justly  elicited  the 
commendation  of  experts  in  philological  lore,  as  a  most  valuable 
contribution  to  that  branch  of  literature," 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  367 

While  Mr.  Pond  was  naturally  ambitious,  he  was  also 
peculiarly  sensitive  and  retiring.  When  the  writer  was 
left  with  him  at  Lac-qui-parle,  Dr.  Williamson  having 
gone  to  Ohio  for  the  winter,  although  so  much  better 
master  of  the  Dakota  than  I  was  at  that  time,  he  was  un 
willing  to  take  more  than  a  secondary  part  in  the  Sabbath 
services.  "Dr.  Williamson  and  you  are  ministers,"  he 
would  say.  And  even  years  afterward,  when  he  and  his 
family  had  removed  to  the  neighborhood  of  Fort  Snelling, 
and  he  and  his  brother  had  built  at  Oak  Grove,  with  the 
people  of  their  first  love,  Gideon  H.  could  hardly  be  per 
suaded  that  it  was  his  duty  to  become  a  preacher  of  the 
Gospel.  I  remember  more  than  one  long  conversation  I 
had  with  him  on  the  subject.  He  seemed  to  shrink  from 
it  as  a  little  child,  although  he  was  then  thirty-seven 
years  old. 

In  the  spring  of  1847,  he  and  Mr.  Robert  Hopkins 
were  licensed  by  the  Dakota  presbytery,  and  ordained  in 
the  autumn  of  1848.  We  were  not  disappointed  in  our 
men.  Mr.  Hopkins  gave  evidence  of  large  adaptation  to 
the  missionary  work ;  but  in  less  than  three  years  he 
heard  the  call  of  the  Master,  and  went  up  through  a  flood 
of  waters.  Mr.  Pond,  notwithstanding  his  hesitation  in 
accepting  the  office,  became  a  most  acceptable  and  efficient 
and  successful  preacher  and  pastor. 

After  the  treaties  of  1851,  these  Lower  Sioux  were  re 
moved  to  the  Upper  Minnesota.  White  people  came  in 
immediately  and  took  possession  of  their  lands.  Mr. 
Pond  elected  to  remain  and  labor  among  the  white  people. 
He  very  soon  organized  a  church,  which  in  a  short  time 
became  a  working,  benevolent  church — for  some  years 
the  banner  Presbyterian  church  of  Minnesota  in  the  way 
of  benevolence.  When,  in  1873,  Mr.  Pond  resigned  his 


368  MARY    AND    I. 

pastorate,  he  wrote  in  his  diary,  "  I  have  preached  to  the 
people  of  Bloomington  twenty  years."  He  received  home 
mission  aid  only  a  few  years. 

We  are  very  glad  to  have  placed  at  our  disposal  so 
much  of  the  private  journal  of  the  late  Rev.  G.  H.  Pond 
as  relates  to  the  wonderful  work  of  God  among  the 
Dakotas  in  prison  at  Mankato,  Minn.,  in  the  winter  of 
1862-63.  The  facts,  in  the  main,  have  been  published 
before ;  but  the  story,  as  told  so  simply  and  graphically 
by  Mr.  Pond,  may  well  bear  repeating.  Mr.  Pond  arrived 
at  Mankato  Saturday,  January  31,  1863,  and  remained 
until  the  afternoon  of  Tuesday,  February  3 :  — 

14  There  are  over  three  hundred  Indians  in  prison,  the  most  of 
whom  are  in  chains.  There  is  a  degree  of  religious  interest  mani 
fested  by  them,  which  is  incredible.  They  huddle  themselves  to 
gether  every  morning  and  evening  in  the  prison,  and  read  the 
Scriptures,  sing  hymns,  confess  one  to  another,  exhort  one  another, 
and  pray  together.  They  say  that  their  whole  lives  have  been 
wicked  —  that  they  have  adhered  to  the  superstitions  of  their  an 
cestors  until  they  have  reduced  themselves  to  their  present  state  of 
wretchedness  and  ruin.  They  declare  that  they  have  left  it  all, 
and  will  leave  all  forever  ;  that  they  do  and  will  embrace  the  re 
ligion  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  adhere  to  it  as  long  as  they  live ;  and 
that  this  is  their  only  hope,  both  in  this  world  and  in  the  next. 
They  say  that  before  they  came  to  this  state  of  mind  —  this  deter 
mination  —  their  hearts  failed  them  with  fear,  but  now  they  have 
much  mental  ease  and  comfort. 

"  About  fifty  men  of  the  Lake  Calhoun  band  expressed  a  wish 
to  be  baptized  by  me,  rather  than  by  any  one  else,  on  the  ground 
that  my  brother  and  myself  had  been  their  first  and  chief  in 
structors  in  religion.  After  consultation  with  Rev.  Marcus  Hicks 
of  Mankato.  Dr.  Williamson  and  I  decided  to  grant  their  request, 
and  administer  to  them  the  Christian  ordinance  of  baptism.  We 
made  the  conditions  as  plain  as  we  could,  and  we  proclaimed 
there  in  the  prison  that  we  would  baptize  such  as  felt  ready 
heartily  to  comply  with  the  conditions  —  commanding  that  none 


APPENDIX.  —  MONOGRAPHS.  369 

should  come  forward  to  receive  the  rite  who  did  not  do  it  heartily 
to  the  God  of  heaven,  whose  eye  penetrated  each  of  their  hearts. 
All,  by  a  hearty  —  apparently  hearty  —  response,  signified  their 
desire  to  receive  the  rite  on  the  conditions  offered. 

"As  soon  as  preparations  could  be  completed,  and  we  had  pro 
vided  ourselves  with  a  basin  of  water,  they  came  forward,  one  by 
one,  as  their  names  were  called,  and  were  baptized  into  the  name 
of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  while  each  subject 
stood  with  his  right  hand  raised  and  head  bowed,  and  many  of  them 
with  the  eyes  closed,  with  an  appearance  of  profound  reverence. 
As  each  one  passed  from  the  place  where  he  stood  to  be  baptized, 
one  or  the  other  of  us  stopped  him  and  addressed  to  him,  in  a  low 
voice,  a  few  words,  such  as  our  knowledge  of  his  previous  character 
and  the  solemnities  of  the  occasion  suggested.  The  effect  of  this, 
in  most  cases,  seemed  to  very  much  deepen  the  solemnity  of  the 
ceremony.  I  varied  my  words,  in  this  part  of  the  exercises,  to  suit 
the  case  of  the  person;  and  when  gray-haired  medicine-men  stood 
literally  trembling  before  me,  as  I  laid  one  hand  on  their  heads, 
the  effect  on  my  mind  was  such  that  at  times  my  tongue  faltered. 
The  words  which  I  used  in  this  part  of  the  service  were  the  follow 
ing,  or  something  nearly  like  them  in  substance  :  '  My  brother, 
this  is  the  mark  of  God  which  is  placed  upon  you.  You  will 
carry  it  while  you  live.  It  introduces  you  into  the  great  family  of 
God,  who  looked  down  from  heaven,  not  upon  your  head,  but  into 
your  heart.  This  ends  your  superstition,  and  from  this  time  you 
are  to  call  God  your  Father.  Remember  to  honor  him.  Be  re 
solved  to  do  his  will.'  It  made  me  glad  to  hear  them  respond, 
'Yes,  I  will.' 

"  When  we  were  through,  and  all  were  again  seated,  we  sung  a 
hymn  appropriate  to  the  occasion,  in  which  many  of  them  joined, 
and  then  prayed.  I  then  said  to  them,  '  Hitherto  I  have  addressed 
you  as  friends  ;  now  I  call  you  brothers.  For  years  we  have  con 
tended  together  on  this  subject  of  religion  ;  now  our  contentions 
cease.  We  have  one  Father  —  we  are  one  family.  I  must  now 
leave  you,  and  probably  shall  see  you  no  more  in  this  world. 
While  you  remain  in  this  prison,  you  have  time  to  attend  to  re 
ligion.  You  can  do  nothing  else.  Your  adherence  to  the  Medi 
cine  Sack  and  the  Wotawe  has  brought  you  to  ruin.  Our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  can  save  you.  Seek  him  with  all  your  heart.  He 
looks  not  on  your  heads  nor  on  your  lips,  but  into  your  bosoms. 


370  MABY    AND   I. 

Brothers,  I  will  make  use  of  a  term  of  brotherly  salutation,  to 
which  you  have  been  accustomed  in  your  medicine  dance,  and 
say  to  you,  Brothers,  I  spread  my  hands  over  you  and  bless 
you.'  The  hearty  answer  of  three  hundred  voices  made  me  feel 
glad. 

"  The  outbreak  and  events  which  followed  it  have,  under  God, 
broken  into  shivers  the  power  of  the  priests  of  devils,  which  has 
hitherto  ruled  these  wretched  tribes.  They  were  before  bound  in 
the  chains  and  confined  in  the  prison  of  Paganism,  as  the  prisoners 
in  the  prison  at  Philippi  were  bound  with  chains.  The  outbreak 
and  its  attendant  consequences  have  been  like  the  earthquake  to 
shake  the  foundation  of  their  prison,  and  every  one's  bonds  have 
been  loosed.  Like  the  jailer,  in  anxious  fear  they  have  cried, 
'Sirs,  what  must  we  do  to  be  saved  ?'  They  have  been  told  to 
believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  will  still  save  unto  the 
uttermost  all  that  come  unto  God  by  him.  They  say  they  repent 
and  forsake  their  sins  —  that  they  believe  on  him,  that  they  trust 
in  him,  and  will  obey  him.  Therefore  they  have  been  baptized 
into  the  name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  three  hundred  in  a  day." 


In  the  spring  of  1853,  Mrs.  Sarah  Poage  Pond  de 
parted,  after  a  lingering  illness  of  eighteen  months,  and 
left  a  "blessed  memory."  There  were  seven  children  by 
this  marriage,  all  of  whom  are  living,  and  have  families  of 
their  own,  but  George,  who  died  while  in  the  Lane  Theo 
logical  Seminary.  In  the  summer  of  1854,  Mr.  Pond  was 
married  to  his  second  wife,  Mrs.  Agnes  C.  J.  Hopkins, 
widow  of  Rev.  Robert  Hopkins.  The  second  Mrs.  Pond 
brought  her  three  children,  making  the  united  family  of 
children  at  that  time  ten.  Six  have  been  added  since. 
And  there  are  twenty-two  grandchildren,  six  of  whom 
are  members  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  together  with  all 
the  children  and  their  companions.  Is  not  that  a  success 
ful  life?  Counting  the  widowed  mother  and  those  who 
have  come  into  the  family  by  marriage,  there  are,  I 


APPENDIX. — MONOGRAPHS.  871 

understand,  just  fifty  who  mourn  the  departure  of  the 
patriarch  father.  A  little  more  than  two-score  years  ago, 
he  was  one ;  and  now  behold  a  multitude  ! 

Mary  Frances  Hopkins,  who  came  into  the  family  when 
a  girl,  and  afterward  married  Edward  R.  Pond,  the  son, 
writes  thus :  "  To  me  he  was  as  near  an  own  father  as  it  is 
possible  for  one  to  be  who  is  so  by  adoption,  and  I  shall 
always  be  glad  I  was  allowed  to  call  him  father." 

The  members  of  the  synod  of  Minnesota  will  remem 
ber  with  great  pleasure  Mr.  Pond's  presence  with  them 
at  their  last  meeting  at  St.  Paul,  in  the  middle  of  October. 
For  some  years  past,  he  has  frequently  been  unable  to  be 
present.  This  time  he  seemed  to  be  more  vigorous  than 
usual,  and  greatly  entertained  the  synod  and  people  of 
St.  Paul  with  his  terse  and  graphic  presentation  of  some 
of  the  Lord's  workings  in  behalf  of  the  Dakotas. 

During  the  meeting  I  was  quartered  with  Mrs.  Gov 
ernor  Ramsay.  On  Saturday  I  was  charged  with  a  mes 
sage  to  Mr.  Pond,  inviting  him  to  come  and  spend  the 
night  at  the  governor's.  We  passed  a  profitable  evening 
together,  and  he  and  I  talked  long  of  the  way  in  which 
the  Lord  had  led  us;  of  the  great  prosperity  he  had  given 

us  in  our  families  and  in  our  work.    Neither  of  us  thought, 

e>     ' 

probably,  that  that  would  be  our  last  talk  this  side  the 
golden  city.  The  next  day,  Sabbath,  he  preached  in  the 
morning,  for  Rev.  D.  R.  Breed,  in  the  House  of  Hope, 
which,  probably,  was  his  last  sermon.  In  the  evening  he 
was  with  us  in  the  Opera  House,  at  a  meeting  in  the  in 
terest  of  home  and  foreign  missions. 

"  His  health  gradually  failed,"  Mrs.  Pond  writes,  "  from 
the  time  of  his  return  from  synod,  though  he  did  not 
call  himself  sick  until  the  llth  of  January,  1878,  and  he 
died  on  Sabbath,  the  20th,  about  noon."  She  adds :  "  His 


372  MARY    AND    I. 

interest  in  the  Indians,  for  whom  he  labored  so  long,  was 
very  deep,  and  he  always  spoke  of  them  with  loving  ten 
derness,  and  often  with  tears.  One  of  the  last  things  he 
did  was  to  look  over  his  old  Dakota  hymns,  revised  by 
J.  P.  W.  and  A.  L.  R.,  and  sent  to  him  for  his  consent  to 
the  proposed  alterations." 

"  His  simple  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  caused  him  all  the 
time  to  live  a  life  of  self-denial,  that  he  might  do  more 
to  spread  the  knowledge  of  Jesus'  love  to  those  who 
knew  it  not."  The  love  of  Christ  constrained  him,  and 
was  his  ruling  passion. 

Of  his  last  days  the  daughter  says :  — 

"  He  really  died  of  consumption.  The  nine  days  he 
was  confined  to  bed  he  suffered  much ;  but  his  mind  was 
mostly  clear,  and  he  was  very  glad  to  go.  I  think  the 
summons  was  no  more  sudden  to  him  than  to  Elijah.  He 
was  to  the  last  loving  and  trustful,  brave  and  patient. 
To  his  brother  Samuel,  as  he  came  to  his  sick  bed,  he 
said :  c  So  we  go  to  see  each  other  die.'  Some  time  be 
fore  he  had  visited  Samuel  when  he  did  not  expect  to 
recover.  <  My  struggles  are  over.  The  Lord  has  taken 
care  of  me,  and  he  will  take  care  of  the  rest  of  you.  My 
hope  is  in  the  Lord,'  he  said. 

"  Toward  the  last  it  was  hard  for  him  to  converse,  and 
he  bade  us  no  formal  farewell.  But  the  words,  as  we 
noted  them  down,  were  words  of  cheer  and  comfort : 
'  You  have  nothing  to  fear,  for  the  present  or  the  future.' 
And  so  was  given  to  him  the  victory  over  death,  through 
faith  in  Jesus." 

Is  that  dying  f  He  sleeps  with  his  fathers.  He  has 
gone  to  see  the  King  in.  his  beauty r,  in  a  land  not  very 
far  off. 

As  loving  hands  ministered  to  him  in  his  sickness,  lov- 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  373 

ing  hearts  mourned  at  his  death.     On  the  Wednesday 
following  he  was  buried.     A  half  a  dozen  brothers  in  the 
ministry  were  present  at  his  funeral,  and,  fittingly,  Mr. 
Breed  of  the  House  of  Hope  preached  the  sermon. 
This  is  success. 

S.  R.  R. 


SOLOMON. 


IN  the  summer  of  1874  Rev.  John  P.  Williamson  made 
a  tour  up  the  Missouri  River  as  far  as  Fort  Peck.  His 
judgment  was  that  there  was  no  opening  at  that  place 
for  the  establishment  of  a  new  mission,  but  that  something 

'  o 

might  possibly  be  done  by  native  Dakotas.  In  the  mean 
time,  we  had  heard  from  the  regions  farther  north  than 
Fort  Peck,  where  some  of  our  church-members  had  gone 
after  the  outbreak  of  1862.  Somewhere  up  in  Manitoba, 
near  Fort  Ellice,  was  Henok  Appearing  Cloud,  with  his 
relatives.  His  mother,  Mazaskawin,  —  Silver-  Woman,  — 
was  a  member  of  the  Hazelwood  church,  and  his  father, 
Wamde-okeya,  —  Eagle  Help,  —  had  been  my  old  helper 
in  Dakota  translations.  These  were  all  near  relatives  of 
Solomon  Toonkanshaecheye,  one  of  our  native  pastors. 

Dr.  Williamson,  by  correspondence  with  the  Presby 
terian  Board,  obtained  an  appropriation  of  several  hun 
dred  dollars  to  send  a  native  missionary  to  these  Dakotas 
in  Canada.  Solomon  gladly  accepted  the  undertaking, 
and  in  the  month  of  June,  1875,  started  for  Manitoba 
with  Samuel  Hopkins  for  a  companion. 

They  were  received  with  a  great  deal  of  joy  by  their 
friends,  who  entreated  them  to  stay,  or  come  back  again 
if  they  left.  But  provisions  were  very  scarce,  and  hard 
to  be  obtained ;  and  hence  they  determined  to  return  to 
the  Sisseton  agency  before  winter.  While  in  Manitoba 
they  had  taught  and  preached  the  Gospel,  and  baptized 

374 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  375 

and  received  several  persons  to  the  fellowship  of  the 
church.  Solomon  wrote,  before  he  returned,  "Indeed, 
there  is  no  food ;  they  have  laid  up  nothing  at  all ;  so 
that,  when  winter  comes,  where  they  will  obtain  food, 
and  how  they  will  live,  no  one  knows.  But  I  have  already 
found  something  of  what  I  have  been  seeking,  and  very 
reluctantly  I  turn  away  from  the  work." 

Solomon  and  Samuel  returned  to  Sisseton,  but  their 
visit  had  created  a  larger  desire  for  education  and  the 
privileges  of  the  Gospel.  In  the  March  following,  Henok 
Appearing  Cloud  wrote  that  he  had  taught  school  during 
the  winter,  and  conducted  religious  meetings,  as  he 
"  wanted  the  Word  of  God  to  grow."  In  much  sim 
plicity,  he  adds :  "  Although  I  am  poor,  and  often  starving, 
I  keep  my  heart  just  as  though  I  were  rich.  When  I 
read  again  in  the  Sacred  Book  what  Jesus,  the  Lord,  lias 
promised  us,  my  heart  is  glad.  I  am  thinking,  if  a  minis 
ter  will  only  come  this  summer  and  stay  with  us  a  little 
while,  our  hearts  will  rejoice.  If  he  comes  to  stay  with 
us  a  long  time,  we  will  rejoice  more.  But  as  we  are  so 
often  in  a  starving  condition,  I  know  it  will  be  hard  for 
any  one  to  come." 

Rev.  John  Black  of  Keldonan  Manse,  near  Winnipeg, 
heard  of  this  visit  of  Solomon  to  Manitoba,  and  of  the 
desire  of  those  Dakotas  to  have  a  missionary.  He  at 
once  became  deeply  interested  in  the  movement,  and 
wrote  to  Dr.  Williamson,  at  St.  Peter,  proposing  that  the 
Presbyterian  Missionary  Society  of  Canada  should  take 
upon  themselves  the  charge  of  supporting  Solomon  as  a 
missionary  among  the  Dakotas  of  the  Dominion.  But 
when  the  matter  was  brought  before  the  missionary  com 
mittee,  they  decided  that  the  condition  of  their  finances 
would  not  allow  them  to  add  to  their  burdens  at  that 


376  MARY   AND   I. 

time.  It  was  not,  however,  given  up,  and  a  year  later  the 
arrangement  was  consummated.  In  the  Word  Carrier 
for  December,  1877,  appeared  this  editorial :  — 

"The  most  important  event  occurring  in  our  missionary  work 
during  the  month  of  October  is  the  departure  of  Rev.  Solomon 
Toonkanshaecheye,  with  his  family,  for  Fort  Ellice,  in  the  Domin 
ion  of  Canada.  This  has  been  under  advisement  by  the  Presby 
terian  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  Canada  for  two  years  past. 
Rev.  John  Black  of  Keldonan  Manse,  Manitoba,  has  been  working 
for  it.  A  year  ago  the  funds  of  the  society  would  not  admit  of 
enlargement  in  their  operations.  This  year  their  way  has  been 
made  clear,  and  the  invitation  has  come  to  Solomon  to  be  their 
missionary  among  the  Dakotas  on  the  Assinaboine  River.  They 
pay  his  expenses  of  removal,  and  promise  him  $600  salary. 

"  He  has  gone.  Agent  Hooper  of  Sisseton  agency  furnished 
him  with  the  necessary  pass,  and  essentially  aided  him  in  his  out 
fit,  and  so  we  sent  him  off  on  the  tenth  day  of  October,  invoking 
God's  blessing  upon  him  and  his  by  the  way,  and  abundant  success 
for  him  in  his  prospective  work.  From  the  commencement  of  ne 
gotiations  in  regard  to  this  matter  it  has  been  of  special  interest 
to  Dr.  T.  S.  Williamson  of  St.  Peter.  He  has  conducted  the  cor 
respondence  with  Mr.  Black.  And  now,  while  the  good  doctor 
was  lying  nigh  unto  death,  as  he  supposed,  the  arrangement  has 
gone  into  effect.  If  this  prove  to  be  his  last  work  on  earth  (may 
the  good  Lord  cause  otherwise),  it  will  be  a  matter  of  joy  on  his 
part  that  thus  the  Gospel  is  carried  to  regions  beyond,  by  so  good 
and  trustworthy  a  man  as  we  have  found  Solomon  to  be  all  through 
these  years." 

Thus  was  the  work  commenced.  Dr.  Williamson  did 
not  pass  from  us  then,  but  lived  nearly  two  years  longer, 
and  was  cheered  by  the  news  of  progress  in  this  far-off 
land.  This  being  among  our  first  efforts  to  do  evangel 
istic  work  by  sending  away  our  native  ministers,  our 
hearts  were  much  bound  up  in  it.  The  church  of  Long 
Hollow  was  reluctant  to  give  up  their  pastor,  and  to  me 
it  was  giving  up  one  whom  I  had  learned  to  trust,  and, 


APPENDIX. MONOGEAPHS.  377 

in  some  measure,  to  depend  upon,  among  my  native 
pastors.  But  it  was  evidently  God's  call,  and  he  has 
already  justified  himself,  even  in  our  eyes.  Solomon 
found  a  people  prepared  of  the  Lord,  and,  in  the  summer 
of  1878,  he  reports  a  church  organized  with  thirteen 
members,  which  they  named  Paha-cho-kam-ya  —  Middle 
Hill  —  of  which  Henok  was  elected  elder. 

In  the  next  winter  Solomon  and  Henok  made  a  mis 
sionary  tour  of  some  weeks,  of  which  we  have  the  follow 
ing  report.  The  letter  is  dated  "  February  22,  1879,  at 
Middle  Hill,  near  Fort  Ellice,  North-west  Territory  "  :  — 

"  This  winter  it  seemed  proper  that  I  should  visit  the  Dakotas 
living  in  the  extreme  settlements,  to  proclaim  to  them  the  Word 
of  God.  I  first  asked  counsel  of  God,  and  prayed  that  he  would 
even  now  have  mercy  on  the  people  of  these  end  villages,  and 
send  his  Holy  Spirit  to  cause  them  to  listen  to  his  Word.  Then  I 
sent  word  to  the  people  that  I  was  coining. 

"  Then  I  started  with  Mr.  Enoch,  my  elder.  The  first  night  we 
came  to  three  teepees  of  our  own  people  at  Large  Lake,  and  held 
a  meeting  with  them.  The  next  morning  we  started,  and  slept 
four  nights.  On  the  fifth  day  we  came  to  a  large  encampment  on 
Elm  River.  There  were  a  great  number  of  tents,  which  we  visited, 
and  prayed  with  them,  being  well  received.  But  as  I  came  to 
where  there  were  two  men,  and  prayed  with  them,  I  told  them 
about  him  whose  name  was  Jesus  —  that  he  was  the  Helper  Man, 
because  he  was  the  Son  of  God.  That  he  came  to  earth,  made  a 
sacrifice  of  himself,  and  died,  that  he  might  reconcile  all  men  to 
God;  that  he  made  himself  alive  again;  that,  although  men 
have  destroyed  themselves  before  God,  whosoever  knows  the 
meaning  of  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  fears  for  his  own  soul,  and 
prays,  he  shall  find  mercy,  and  be  brought  near  to  God.  That  is 
the  Name.  And  he  is  the  Saviour  of  men,  and  so  will  be  your 
Saviour  also,  I  said. 

"  Then  one  of  them  in  a  frightened  way  answered  me:  '  I  sup 
posed  you  were  a  Dakota,  of  those  who  live  in  cabins.  It  is  not 
proper  that  you  should  say  these  things.  As  for  me,  I  do  not  want 


378  MARY    AND   I. 

them.  Those  who  wish  may  follow  in  that  way;  but  I  will  not. 
You  who  hold  such  things  should  stay  at  home.  What  do  you 
come  here  for  ? ' 

"  Walking-nest  then  said:  '  You  are  Cloudman's  son,  I  sup 
pose,  and  so  you  are  my  cousin.  Cousin,  when  we  first  came  to 
this  country  there  was  a  white  minister  who  talked  to  us  and  said: 
"  Your  hands  are  full  of  blood ;  therefore,  when  your  hands  become 
white,  we  will  teach  you."  So  he  said,  and  when  you  brought  a 
book  from  the  south,  while  they  were  looking  at  it,  blood  dropped 
from  above  upon  it;  and  behold,  as  the  white  minister  said,  1 
conclude  we  are  not  yet  good.  Therefore,  my  cousin,  I  am  not 
pleased  with  your  coming,'  he  said. 

"  But  there  were  only  two  men  who  talked  in  this  way.  We 
left  them  and  visited  every  house  in  the  camp.  Many  may  have 
felt  as  those  men  did,  but  did  not  say  it  openly.  The  men  said 
they  were  glad,  and  welcomed  us  into  their  tents. 

"  The  next  day  I  came  into  a  sick  man's  tent  whose  name  was 
Hepan,  lying  near  to  death.  I  talked  with  him,  and  prayed  to 
God  for  him.  Then  he  told  me  how  he  longed  to  hear  from  his 
friends  down  south,  and  mentioned  over  half  a  dozen  names  of  his 
relatives.  A  woman  also,  who  was  present,  said :  f  I  want  to  know 
if  my  friends  are  yet  living.' 

"  Then  we  continued  our  visiting  from  house  to  house.  Some 
times  we  found  only  children  in  the  tent;  sometimes  there  were 
men  and  women,  and  I  prayed  with  them  and  told  them  a  word  of 
Jesus.  So  we  came  to  the  teepees  in  the  valley.  Then  I  met 
Iron  Buffalo.  There  we  spent  the  Sabbath,  and  held  meeting, 
having  twenty-three  persons  present.  A  chief  man,  whose  name 
is  War-club-maker,  called  them  together. 

"Our  meetings  there  being  finished,  we  departed  and  came  to 
the  Wahpaton  village.  They  were  making  four  sacred  feasts.  We 
did  not  go  into  them.  But,  visiting  other  houses,  we  passed  on 
about  five  miles,  when  night  came  upon  us.  Still  we  went  on  to 
the  end  of  the  settlement,  where  we  held  a  meeting.  The  teepee 
was  small,  but  there  I  found  a  sick  man  who  listened  to  the  Word. 
This  was  Chaskay,  the  son  of  Taoyatedoota.  He  said  he  was 
going  to  die,  and  from  what  source  he  should  hear  any  word  of 
prayer,  or  any  comforting  word  of  God,  was  not  manifest.  But 
now  he  had  heard  these  things,  and  was  very  glad,  he  said.  This 
way  was  the  best  upon  earth,  and  he  believed  in  it  now.  So, 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  379 

while  we  remained  there,  he  wanted  us  to  pray  with  and  for  him, 
he  said. 

"  We  spent  one  day  there,  and  the  second  day  we  started  home, 
and  came  to  Hunka's  tent,  and  so  proceeded  homeward.  When 
we  had  reached  the  other  end  of  the  settlement,  we  learned  that 
the  white  ministers  were  to  hold  a  meeting  of  presbytery.  They 
sent  word  to  us  to  come,  and  so  in  the  night,  with  my  Hoonka- 
yape,  Mr.  Enoch,  I  went  back.  They  asked  us  to  give  an  account 
of  our  missionary  journey  among  the  Dakotas.  And  so  we  told 
them  where  we  had  been  and  what  we  had  done.  Also,  we  gave 
an  account  of  things  at  Middle  Hill,  where  we  live.  When  we  had 
finished,  they  all  clapped  their  hands.  Then  they  said  they  wanted 
to  hear  us  sing  a  hymn  of  praise  to  God  in  Dakota.  We  sang 
'  Wakantanka  Towaste,'  and  at  the  close  they  clapped  their  hands 
again. 

"  Then  two  men  arose,  one  after  the  other.  The  first  said:  'I 
have  not  expected  to  see  such  things  so  soon  among  the  Dakotas. 
But  now  I  see  great  things,  which  I  like  very  much.'  The  other 
man  spoke  in  the  same  way. 

"  Men  and  women  had  come  together  in  their  prayer-house,  and 
so  there  was  a  large  assembly. 

"Then  the  minister  of  that  church  arose  and  said:  'White 
people,  who  have  grown  up  hearing  of  this  way  of  salvation,  are 
expected  to  believe  in  it,  and  I  have  been  accustomed  to  rejoice  in 
the  multiplication  of  the  Christian  church;  but  I  rejoice  more  over 
this  work  among  the  Dakotas.'  " 

Both  of  these  men  came  home  to  watch  and  wait  by 
the  sick-bed  of  dear  children.  Nancy  Maza-chankoo- 
win,  —  Iron  Road  Woman,  —  the  daughter  of  Henok, 
died  April  28,  1879.  She  was  thirteen  years  old,  read 
the  Dakota  Bible  well,  and  was  quite  a  singer  in  the 
prayer  assemblies.  They  say:  "We  all  thought  a  great 
deal  of  her;  but  now  she  too  has  gone  up  to  sing  in  the 
House  of  Jesus,  because  she  was  called." 

From  Middle  Hill,  near  Fort  Ellice  in  Manitoba,  comes 
a  letter  written  on  May  20  by  our  friend  Solomon. 


380  MARY    AND   I. 

He  reports  seven  members  added  by  profession  of  faith 
to  his  church  in  April,  and  ten  children  baptized. 
There,  as  here,  the  season  lias  been  a  sickly  one,  and 
many  deaths  have  occurred.  For  three  months  he  has 
had  sickness  in  his  own  family.  His  story  is  pathetic. 
"  Now,"  he  says,  "  my  son  Abraham  is  dead.  Seven 
years  ago,  at  Long  Hollow,  in  the  country  of  the  Coteau 
des  Prairies,  he  was  born  on  January  12,  1872.  And  on 
the  23d  of  June  following,  at  a  communion  season  at 
Good  Will  Church,  he  was  baptized.  When  Mr.  Riggs 
poured  the  water  on  him,  he  was  called  Abraham.  And 
then  in  the  country  of  the  north,  from  Middle  Hill,  May 
9,  1879,  on  that  day,  his  soul  was  carried  home  to  the 
House  of  Jesus. 

"Five  months  after  he  was  born,  I  wanted  to  have 
him  baptized.  I  always  remember  the  thought  I  had 
about  it.  Soon  after  a  child  is  born,  it  is  proper  to  have 
it  baptized.  I  believed  that  baptism  alone  was  not  to  be 
trusted  in,  and  when  one  is  baptized  now  it  is  finished  is 
not  thinkable.  But  in  Luke  18  :  16,  our  Lord  Jesus 
says :  '  Suffer  the  little  children  to  come  unto  me ' ;  and  so 
taking  them  to  Jesus  is  good,  since  his  heart  is  set  on 
permitting  them  to  come.  Therefore,  I  wanted  this  my 
son  to  go  to  Jesus. 

"  And  so  from  the  time  he  could  hear  me  speak,  I 
have  endeavored  to  train  him  up  in  all  gentleness  and 
obedience,  in  truth  and  in  peace.  Now,  for  two  years  in 
this  country  he  has  been  my  little  helper.  When  some 
could  not  say  their  letters,  he  taught  them.  He  also 
taught  them  to  pray.  And  when  any  were  told  to 
repeat  the  commandments,  and  were  ashamed  to  do  so, 
he  repeated  them  first,  for  he  remembered  them  all. 
Hence,  I  was  very  much  attached  to  him.  But  this  last 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  381 

winter  lie  was  taken  sick,  and  from  the  first  it  seemed 
that  he  would  not  get  well.  But  while  he  lived  it  was 
possible  to  help  him,  and  so  we  did  to  the  extent  of  our 
ability.  He  failed  gradually.  He  was  a  long  time  sick. 
But  he  was  not  afraid  to  die.  He  often  prayed.  When 
he  was  dying,  but  quite  conscious  of  everything  that  took 
place,  then  he  prayed,  and  we  listened.  He  repeated  the 
prayer  of  the  Lord  Jesus  audibly  to  the  end.  That  was 
the  last  voice  we  heard  from  him.  Perhaps  when  our 
time  comes,  and  they  come  for  us  to  climb  up  to  the  hill 
of  the  mountain  of  Jehovah,  then  we  think  we  shall  hear 
his  new  voice.  Therefore,  although  we  are  sad,  we  do 
not  cry  immoderately." 

That  was  a  beautiful  child-life,  and  a  beautiful  child- 
death.  Who  shall  say  there  are  not  now  Dakota  chil 
dren  in  heaven?  To  have  beemthe  means,  under  God, 
of  opening  in  this  -desert  such  a  well  of  faith  and  salva 
tion  is  quite  a  sufficient  reward  for  a  lifetime  of  work. 

S.  R.  R. 


DR.  T.  S.  WILLIAMSON. 


THE  father  of  the  Dakota  Mission  has  gone.  Thomas 
Smith  Williamson  died  at  his  residence  in  St.  Peter, 
Minn.,  on  Tuesday,  the  24th  of  June,  1879,  in  the 
eightieth  year  of  his  life.  My  own  acquaintance  with 
this  life-long  friend  and  companion  in  work  commenced 
when  I  was  yet  a  boy,  just  fifty  years  ago  in  July.  We 
were  new-comers  in  the  town  of  Ripley,  Ohio,  where  Dr. 
Williamson  was  then  a^ractising  physician  of  some  five 
years'  standing.  My  mother  was  taken  sick  and  died. 
In  her  sick-chamber  our  acquaintance  commenced,  which 
has  continued  unbroken  for  half  a  century. 

The  silver  wedding  of  the  Dakota  Mission  was  cele 
brated  at  Hazelwood,  in  the  summer  of  1860.  Dr. 
Williamson  himself  furnished  a  sketch  of  his  life  and 
ancestry  for  that  occasion  which  has  never  been  pub 
lished.  From  this  document,  as  well  as  from  articles 
written  by  his  son,  Prof.  Andrew  Woods  Williamson, 
and  published  in  the  St.  Peter  Tribune  and  the  Herald 
and  Presbyter,  much  of  this  life-sketch  will  be  taken. 

Thomas  Smith  Williamson,  M.D.,  was  the  son  of  Rev. 
William  Williamson  and  Mary  Smith,  and  was  born  in 
Union  District,  South  Carolina,  in  March,  1800. 

William  Williamson  commenced  classical  studies  when 
quite  young ;  but  the  school  he  attended  was  broken  up 
by  the  appointment  of  the  teacher  as  an  officer  in  the 

382 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  383 

Revolutionary  army.  When  about  sixteen  years  of  age, 
while  on  a  visit  to  an  uncle's  on  the  head-waters  of  the 
Kanawha,  in  Virginia,  several  families  in  the  neighbor 
hood  were  taken  captive  by  the  Indians,  and  he  joined 
a  company  of  volunteers  which  was  raised  to  go  in 
pursuit.  After  more  than  a  week's  chase,  they  were 
entirely  successful,  and  lost  only  one  of  their  own 
number. 

When  not  yet  eighteen  years  old,  he  was  drafted  into 
the  North  Carolina  militia,  and  accompanied  Gates  in 
his  unfortunate  expedition  through  the  Carolinas.  After 
the  war  was  over  and  the  family  had  removed  to  South 
Carolina,  William  resumed  his  studies  and  was  graduated 
at  Hampton  Sidney  College  —  studied  theology,  and  was 
ordained  pastor  of  Fair  Forest  Church,  in  April,  1793. 

The  grandfather  of  Thomas  Smith  Williamson  was 
Thomas  Williamson,  and  his  grandmother's  maiden 
name  was  Ann  Newton,  a  distant  relative  of  Sir  Isaac 
and  Rev.  John  Newton.  They  were  both  raised  in 
Pennsylvania,  but  removed  first  to  Virginia  and  then 
to  the  Carolinas,  where  they  became  the  owners  of 
slaves,  the  most  of  whom  were  purchased  at  their  own 
request  to  keep  them  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  hard 
masters. 

Thus  Rev.  William  Williamson  was  born  into  the 
condition  of  slaveholder.  By  both  his  first  and  second 
marriage  also,  he  became  the  owner  of  others,  which, 
by  the  laws  of  South  Carolina,  would  have  been  the 
property  of  his  children.  For  the  purpose  of  giving 
them  their  liberty,  he  removed,  in  1805,  from  South 
Carolina  to  Adams  County,  Ohio.  Before  her  marriage, 
Mary  Smith  had  taught  a  number  of  the  young  negroes 
to  read.  And  of  their  descendants  quite  a  number  are 


384  MARY    AND    I. 

now  in  Ohio.  It  should  be  remembered  that  the  Smiths 
and  Williamsons  of  the  eighteenth  century  thought  it 
right,  under  the  circumstances  in  which  they  were,  to 
buy  and  hold  slaves,  but  not  right  to  sell  them.  They 
never  sold  any. 

Thomas  Smith  Williamson  inherited  from  his  father 
a  love  for  the  study  of  God's  Word,  and  a  practical 
sympathy  for  the  down-trodden  and  oppressed,  which 
were  ever  the  distinguishing  characteristics  of  his  life. 
He  was  also  blessed  with  a  godly  mother  and  with  five 
earnest-working  Christian  sisters,  four  of  whom  were 
older  than  himself.  He  was  converted  during  his  stay 
at  Jefferson  College,  Cannonsburg,  Pa.,  where  he  grad 
uated  in  1820.  Soon  after,  he  began  reading  medicine 
with  his  brother-in-law,  Dr.  William  Wilson  of  West 
Union,  Ohio,  and,  after  a  very  full  course  of  reading, 
considerable  practical  experience,  and  one  course  of 
lectures  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  completed  his  medical 
education  at  Yale,  where  he  graduated  in  medicine  in 
1824.  He  settled  at  Ripley,  Ohio,  where  he  soon 
acquired  an  extensive  practice,  and  April  10,  1827,  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Margaret  Poage,  daughter  of 
Col.  James  Poage,  proprietor  of  the  town.  Perhaps  no 
man  was  ever  more  blessed  with  a  helpmeet  more 
adapted  to  his  wants  than  this  lovely,  quiet,  systematic, 
cheerful,  Christian  wife,  who  for  forty-five  years  of 
perfect  harmony  encouraged  him  in  his  labors. 

They  thought  themselves  happily  settled  for  life  in 
their  pleasant  home,  but  God  had  better  things  in  store 
for  them.  His  Spirit  began  whispering  in  their  ears  the 
Macedonian  cry.  At  first,  they  excused  themselves  on 
account  of  their  little  ones.  They  felt  they  could  not 
take  them  among  the  Indians,  that  they  owed  a  duty  to 


APPENDIX.  —  MONOGRAPHS. 

them.  They  hesitated.  God  removed  this  obstacle  in 
his  own  way  —  by  taking  the  little  ones  home  to  him 
self.  As  this  was  a  great  trial,  so  was  it  a  great  blessing 
to  these  parents.  This  was  one  of  God's  means  of  so 
strengthening  their  faith  that,  having  once  decided  to 
go,  neither  of  them  ever  after  for  one  moment  regretted 
the  decision,  doubted  that  they  were  called  of  God  to 
this  work,  or  feared  that  their  life-work  would  prove  a 
failure. 

In  the  spring  of  1833,  Dr.  Williamson  placed  himself 
under  the  care  of  the  Chillicothe  Presbytery,  and  com 
menced  the  study  of  theology.  In  August  of  that  year 
he  removed  with  his  family  to  Walnut  Hills,  and  con 
nected  himself  with  Lane  Seminary.  In  April,  1834,  in 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Red  Oak,  he  was 
licensed  to  preach  by  the  Chillicothe  Presbytery. 

Previous  to  his  licensure,  he  had  received  from  the 
American  Board  an  appointment  to  proceed  on  an 
exploring  tour  among  the  Indians  of  the  Upper  Missis 
sippi,  with  special  reference  to  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  but 
to  collect  what  information  he  could  in  regard  to  the 
Sioux,  Winnebagoes,  and  other  Indians.  Starting  on 
this  tour  about  the  last  of  April,  he  went  as  far  as  Fort 
Snelling,  and  returned  to  Ohio  in  August.  At  Rock 
Island  he  met  with  some  of  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  and  at 
Prairie  du  Chien  he  first  saw  Dakotas,  among  others 
Mr.  Joseph  Renville  of  Lr.o-qui-parle.  On  the  18th  of 
September  he  was  ordaineJ  as  a  missionary  by  the 
Chillicothe  Presbytery,  in  Union  Church,  Ross  County, 
Ohio. 

A  few  months  afterward  he  received  his  appointment 
as  a  missionary  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  to  the  Dakotas ; 
and  on  the  first  day  of  April,  1835,  Dr.  Williamson, 


386  MARY    AND   I. 

with  his  wife  and  one  child,  accompanied  by  Miss  Sarah 
Ponge,  Mrs.  Williamson's  sister,  who  afterward  became 
Mrs.  Gideon  H.  Pond,  and  Alexander  G.  Huggins  and 
i'amily,  left  Ripley,  Ohio,  and  on  the  16th  of  May  they 
arrived  at  Fort  Snelling.  At  this  time,  the  only  white 
people  in  Minnesota,  then  a  part  of  the  North-west 
Territory,  were  those  connected  with  the  military  post 
at  Fort  Snelling,  the  only  post-office  within  the  present 
limits  of  the  State ;  those  connected  with  the  fur-trade, 
except  Hon.  H.  H.  Sibley,  were  chiefly  Canadian  French, 
ignorant  of  the  English  language;  and  Messrs.  Gideon 
H.  and  Samuel  W.  Pond,  who  came  on  their  own  account 
as  lay  teachers  of  Christ  to  the  Indians  in  1834. 

While  stopping  there  for  a  few  weeks,  Dr.  Williamson 
presided  at  the  organization,  on  the  12th  of  June,  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  —  the  first  Christian  church 
organized  within  the  present  limits  of  Minnesota.  This 
was  within  the  garrison  at  Fort  Snelling,  and  consisted 
of  twenty-two  members,  chiefly  the  result  of  the  labors 
of  Major  Loomis  among  the  soldiers. 

Having  concluded  to  accompany  Mr.  Joseph  Renville, 
Dr.  Williamson's  party  embarked  on  the  fur  company's 
Mackinaw  boat  on  the  22d  of  June;  reached  Traverse 
des  Sioux  on  the  30th,  where  they  took  wagons  and 
arrived  at  Lac-qui-parle  on  the  9th  of  July.  There,  on 
the  north  side  of  the  Minnesota  River,  and  in  sight  of 
the  "  Lake  that  speaks,"  they  established  themselves  as 
teachers  of  the  religion  of  Jesus. 

Of  the  "  Life  and  Labors  "  pressed  into  the  next  forty- 
four  years,  only  the  most  meager  outline  can  be  given 
in  this  article.  It  is  now  almost  two  round  centuries 
since  Hennepin  and  Du  Luth  met  in  the  camps  and 
villages  of  the  Sioux  on  the  Upper  Mississippi.  Then, 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  387 

as  since,  they  were  recognized  as  the  largest  and  most 
warlike  tribe  of  Indians  on  the  continent.  Until  Dr. 
Williamson  and  his  associates  went  among  them,  there 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  any  effort  made  to  civilize 
and  Christianize  them.  With  the  exception  of  a  few 
hundred  words  gathered  by  army  officers  and  others,  the 
Dakota  language  was  unwritten.  This  was  to  be  learned 
—  mastered,  which  was  found  to  be  no  small  undertaking, 
especially  to  one  who  had  attained  the  age  of  thirty-five 
years.  While  men  of  less  energy  and  pluck  would  have 
knocked  off  or  been  content  to  work  as  best  they  could 
through  an  interpreter,  Dr.  Williamson  persevered,  and 
in  less  than  two  years  was  preaching  Christ  to  them  in 
the  language  in  which  they  were  born.  He  never  spoke 
it  easily  nor  just  like  an  Indian,  but  he  was  readily 
understood  by  those  who  were  accustomed  to  hear  him. 

It  was  by  a  divine  guidance  that  the  station  at  Lac-qui- 
parle  was  commenced.  The  Indians  there  were  very  poor 
in  this  world's  good,  not  more  than  a  half-dozen  horses  be 
ing  owned  in  a  village  of  400  people.  They  were  far  in  the 
interior,  and  received  no  annuities  from  the  government. 
Thus  they  were  in  a  condition  to  be  helped  in  many  ways 
by  the  mission.  Under  its  influence  and  by  its  help, 
their  corn-patches  were  enlarged  and  their  agriculture 
improved.  Dr.  Williamson  also  found  abundant  opportu 
nities  to  practise  medicine  among  them.  Not  that  they 
gave  up  their  pow-wows  and  conjuring ;  but  many  fami 
lies  were  found  quite  willing  that  the  white  Pay-zhe-hoo- 
ta-we-chash-ta  (Grass  Root  Man)  should  try  his  skill  with 
the  rest.  For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  his  medi 
cal  aid  went  hand  in  hand  with  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel.  By  the  helpfulness  of  the  rnissson  in  various 
ways,  a  certain  amount  of  confidence  was  secured.  And 


388  MARY    AND    I. 

through  the  influence  of  Mr.  Renville,  a  few  men,  but 
especially  the  women,  gathered  to  hear  the  good  news  of 
salvation. 

Here  they  were  rejoiced  to  see  the  Word  taking  effect 
early.  In  less  than  a  year  after  their  arrival,  Dr.  Will 
iamson  organized  a  native  church,  which,  in  the  autumn 
of  1837,  when  I  joined  the  mission  force  at  Lac-qui-parle, 
counted  seven  Dakotas.  Five  years  after  the  number 
received  from  the  beginning  had  been  forty-nine.  This 
was  a  very  successful  commencement. 

But  in  the  meantime  the  war-prophets  and  the  so-called 
medicine-men  were  becoming  suspicious  of  the  new 
religion.  They  began  to  understand  that  the  religion  of 
Christ  antagonized  their  own  ancestral  faith,  and  so  they 
organized  opposition.  The  children  were  forbidden  to 
attend  the  mission  school ;  Dakota  soldiers  were  stationed 
along  the  paths,  and  the  women's  blankets  were  cut  up 
when  they  attempted  to  go  to  church.  Year  after  year 
the  mission  cattle  were  killed  and  eaten.  At  one  time, 
Dr.  Williamson  was  under  the  necessity  of  hitching 
up  milch-cows  to  haul  his  wood  —  the  only  animals  left 
him. 

These  were  dark,  discouraging  years  —  very  trying  to 
the  native  church  members,  as  well  as  to  the  missionaries. 
As  I  look  back  upon  them,  I  can  but  admire  the  indomi 
table  courage  and  perseverance  of  Dr.  Williamson.  My 
own  heart  would,  I  think,  have  sometimes  failed  me  if  it 
had  not  been  for  the  "hold  on  and  hold  out  unto  the 
end  "  of  my  earthly  friend.  . 

As  Mr.  Renville  could  only  interpret  between  the  Da 
kotas  and  French,  Dr.  Williamson  applied  himself  to 
learning  the  latter  language.  Through  this  a  beginning 
was  made  in  the  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  the 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS. 

Dakota.  Late  in  the  fall  of  1839  the  Gospel  of  Mark  and 
some  other  small  portions  were  ready  to  be  printed,  and 
Dr.  Williamson  went  with  his  family  to  Ohio,  where  he 
spent  the  winter.  The  next  printing  of  portions  of  the 
Bible  was  done  in  1842-43,  when  Dr.  Williamson  had 
completed  a  translation  of  the  book  of  Genesis.  We  had 
MOW  commenced  to  translate  from  the  Hebrew  and  Greek, 
.'his  was  continued  through  all  the  years  of  his  mission 
ary  life.  So  far  as  I  can  remember,  there  was  no  arrange 
ment  of  wrork  between  the  doctor  and  myself,  but  while 
I  commenced  the  New  Testament,  and,  having  completed 
that,  turned  to  the  Psalms,  and,  having  finished  to  the 
end  of  Malachi,  made  some  steps  backward  through  Job, 
Esther,  Nehemiah,  and  Ezra,  he,  commencing  with 
Genesis,  closed  his  work,  in  the  last  months  of  his  life, 
with  Second  Chronicles,  having  taken  in  also  the  book  of 
Proverbs. 

Before  leaving  the  subject  of  Bible  translation,  let  me 
bear  testimony  to  the  uniform  kindness  and  courtesy 
which  Dr.  Williamson  extended  to  me,  through  all  this 
work  of  more  than  forty  years.  It  could  hardly  be  said 
of  either  of  us  that  we  were  very  yielding.  The  doctor 
was  a  man  of  positive  opinions,  and  there  were  abundant 
opportunities  in  prosecuting  our  joint  work  for  differences 
of  judgment.  But,  while  we  freely  criticised  each  the 
other's  work,  we  freely  yielded  to  each  other  the  right  of 
ultimate  decision. 

In  the  autumn  of  1846,  Dr.  Williamson  received  an  in 
vitation,  through  the  agent  at  Fort  Snelling,  to  establish 
a  mission  at  Little  Crow's  Village,  a  few  miles  below 
where  St.  Paul  has  grown  up,  and  he  at  once  accepted  it, 
gathering  from  it  that  the  Lord  had  a  work  for  him  to  do 
there.  And  indeed  he  had.  During  the  five  or  six  years 


390  MAKY    AND    I. 

he  remained  there,  a  small  Dakota  church  was  gathered, 
and  an  opportunity  was  afforded  him  to  exert  a  positive 
Christian  influence  on  the  white  people  then  gathering 
into  the  capital  of  Minnesota.  Dr.  Williamson  preached 
the  first  sermon  there. 

When,  after  the  treaties  of  1851,  the  Indians  of  the 
Mississippi  were  removed,  he  removed  with  them  —  or, 
rather,  went  before  them,  and  commenced  his  last  station 
at  Pay-zhe-hoo-ta-zee,  Yellow  Medicine.  There  he  and 
his  family  had  further  opportunities  "  to  glory  in  tribu 
lations."  The  first  winter  was  one  of  unusual  severity, 
and  they  came  near  starving.  But  here  the  Lord  blessed 
them,  and  permitted  them  to  see  a  native  church  grow 
up,  as  well  as  at  Hazelwood,  the  other  mission  station 
near  by.  It  was  during  the  next  ten  years  that  the  seeds 
of  civilization  and  Christianity  took  root,  and  grew  into 
a  fruitage,  which,  in  some  good  manner,  bore  up  under 
the  storm  of  the  outbreak  in  1862,  and  resulted  in  a  great 
harvest  afterward. 

Twenty-seven  years  of  labor  among  the  Dakotas  were 
past.  The  results  had  been  encouraging  —  gratifying. 
Dr.  Williamson's  eldest  son,  Rev.  John  P.  Williamson, 
born  into  the  missionary  kingdom,  had  recently  come 
from  Lane  Seminary,  and  joined  our  missionary  forces. 
But  suddenly  our  work  seemed  to  be  dashed  in  pieces. 
The  whirlwind  of  the  outbreak  swept  over  our  mission. 
Our  houses  and  churches  were  burned  with  fire.  The 
members  of  our  native  churches  —  where  were  they  ? 
Would  there  ever  be  a  gathering  again  ?  But  nothing 
could  discourage  Dr.  Williamson,  for  he  trusted  not  in 
an  arm  of  flesh,  but  in  the  all-powerful  arm  of  God.  He 
found  that  he  at  least  had  the  consolation  of  knowing 
that  all  the  Christian  Indians  had  continued,  at  the  risk 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  391 

of  their  own  lives,  steadfast  friends  of  the  whites,  that 
they  had  succeeded  in  saving  more  than  their  own 
number  of  white  people,  and  that  those  of  them  who  were 
unjustly  imprisoned  spent  much  of  the  time  in  laboring 
for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  imprisoned  with 
them. 

It  required  just  such  a  political  and  moral  revolution 
as  this  to  break  the  bonds  of  heathenism,  in  which  these 
Dakotas  were  held.  It  seems  also  to  have  required  the 
manifest  endurance  of  privations,  and  the  unselfish  devo 
tion  of  Dr.  Williamson  and  others  to  them  in  this  time 
of  trouble,  to  fully  satisfy  their  suspicious  hearts  that  we 
did  not  seek  theirs  but  them.  The  winter  of  1862-63, 
Dr.  Williamson,  having  located  his  family  at  St.  Peter, 
usually  walked  up  every  Saturday  to  Mankato,  to  preach 
the  Gospel  to  the  400  men  in  prison.  "  That,"  said  a 
young  man,  "  satisfied  us  that  you  were  really  our 
friends."  Sometimes  it  seems  strange  that  it  required  so 
much  to  convince  them !  History  scarcely  furnishes  a 
more  remarkable  instance  of  divine  power  on  human 
hearts  than  was  witnessed  in  that  prison.  For  a  partic 
ular  account  of  this  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  mono 
graph  on  Rev.  G.  H.  Pond. 

Ever  since  the  outbreak,  Dr.  Williamson  has  made  a 
home  for  his  family  in  the  town  of  St.  Peter  and  its 
vicinity.  For  two  years  of  the  three  in  which  the  con 
demned  Dakotas  were  imprisoned  at  Davenport,  Iowa,  he 
gave  his  time  and  strength  chiefly  to  ministering  to  their 
spiritual  needs.  Education  never  progressed  so  rapidly 
among  them  as  during  these  years.  They  almost  all 
learned  to  read  and  write  their  own  language;  and  spent 
much  of  their  time  in  singing  hymns  of  praise,  in  prayer, 
and  in  reading  the  Bible.  They  were  enrolled  in  classes, 


392  MARY    AND    I. 

and  each  class  placed  under  the  special  teaching  of  an 
elder.  This  gave  them  something  like  a  Methodist  or 
ganization,  but  it  was  found  essential  to  a  proper  watch 
and  care.  This  experience  in  the  prison  and  elsewhere 
made  it  more  and  more  manifest  that,  to  carry  forward 
the  work  of  evangelization  among  this  people,  we  must 
make  large  use  of  our  native  talent. 

The  original  Dakota  presbytery  was  organized  at 
Lac-qui-parle  in  the  first  days  of  October,  1844.  Dr. 
Williamson  and  myself  brought  our  letters  from  the  pres 
bytery  of  Ripley,  Ohio,  and  Samuel  W.  Pond  brought  his 
from  an  Association  in  Connecticut.  The  bounds  of  this 
presbytery  were  not  accurately  defined,  and  so  for  years 
it  absorbed  all  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  of  the  Pres 
byterian  and  Congregational  orders  who  came  into  the 
Minnesota  country.  By  and  by  the  presbyteries  of  St. 
Paul  and  Minnesota  were  organized ;  but  the  Dakota 
presbytery  still  covered  the  country  of  the  Minnesota 
River. 

At  a  meeting  of  this  presbytery  at  Mankato  in  the 
spring  of  1865,  when  our  first  Dakota  preacher,  Rev. 
John  B.  Renville,  was  licensed,  an  incident  took  place 
which  illustrates  the  meekness  and  magnanimity  of  Dr. 
Williamson's  character.  On  its  own  adjournment  the 
presbytery  had  convened  and  was  opened  with  a  sermon 
by  Dr.  Williamson,  in  the  evening,  in  the  Presbyterian 
church.  He  took  occasion  to  present  the  subject  of  our 
duties  to  the  down-trodden  races,  the  African  and  the 
Indian.  Doubtless  some  who  heard  the  discourse  did 
not  approve  of  it.  But  no  exceptions  would  have  been 
taken  if  the  Jewett  family,  out  a  few  miles  from  the 
town,  had  not  been  killed  that  night  by  a  Sioux  war- 
party.  Men  were  so  unreasonable  as  to  claim  that  the 


APPENDIX.  —  MONOGRAPHS.  393 

preaching  and  the  preacher  had  some  kind  of  casual 
relation  with  the  killing.  The  next  day,  Mankato  was 
in  a  ferment.  An  indignation  meeting  was  held,  and  a 
committee  of  citizens  was  sent  to  the  Presbyterian 
church  to  require  Dr.  Williamson  to  leave  their  town. 
Some  of  the  members  of  the  presbytery  were  indignant 
at  this  demand  ;  but  the  good  doctor  chose  to  retire  to 
his  home  at  St.  Peter,  assuring  the  excited  and  unreason 
able  men  of  Mankato  that  he  could  have  had  no  knowl 
edge  of  the  presence  of  the  war-party,  and  certainly  had 
no  sympathy  with  their  wicked  work. 

In  years  after  this,  I  traveled  hundreds  of  miles,  often 
alone  with  Dr.  Williamson,  and  while  we  conversed 
freely  of  all  our  experiences,  and  of  the  way  God  had 
led  us,  I  do  not  remember  that  I  ever  heard  him  refer  to 
this  ill  treatment  of  the  people  of  Mankato.  Like  his 
Master,  he  had  learned  obedience  by  the  things  he  suf 
fered. 

Never  brilliant,  he  was  yet,  by  his  capacity  for  long- 
continued,  severe  exertion,  and  by  systematic,  persever 
ing  industry,  enabled  to  accomplish  an  almost  incredible 
amount  of  labor.  His  life  was  a  grand  one,  made  so  by 
his  indomitable  perseverance  in  the  line  of  lifting  up  the 
poor  and  those  who  had  no  helper. 

From  the  beginning  he  had  an  unshaken  faith  in  his 
work.  He  fully  believed  in  the  ability  of  the  Indians  to 
become  civilized  and  Christianized.  He  had  an  equally 
strong  arid  abiding  faith  in  the  power  of  the  Gospel  to 
elevate  and  save  even  them.  Then  add  to  these  his  per 
sonal  conviction  that  God  had,  by  special  providences, 
called  him  to  this  work,  and  we  have  a  threefold  cord  of 
faith,  that  was  not  easily  broken. 

No  one  who  knew  him  ever  doubted  that  Dr.  William- 


394  MARY   AND   I. 

son  was  a  true  friend  of  the  red  man.  And  he  succeeded 
wonderfully  in  making  this  impression  upon  the  Indians 
themselves.  They  recognized,  and,  of  late  years,  often 
spoke  of,  his  life-long  service  for  them.  With  a  class  of 
white  men,  this  was  the  head  and  front  of  his  offending, 
that,  in  their  judgment,  he  could  see  only  one  side  — 
that  he  was  always  the  apologist  of  the  Indians  —  that 
in  the  massacres  of  the  border  in  1862,  when  others 
believed  and  asserted  that  a  thousand  or  fifteen  hundred 
whites  were  killed,  Dr.  Williamson  could  only  count 
three  or  four  hundred.  He  was  honest  in  his  beliefs  and 
honest  in  his  apologies.  He  felt  that  necessity  was  laid 
upon  him  to  "open  his  mouth  for  the  dumb."  They 
could  not  defend  themselves,  and  they  have  had  very  few 
defenders  among  white  people. 

In  the  summer  of  1866,  after  the  release  of  the  Dakota 
prisoners  at  Davenport,  Dr.  Williamson  and  I  took  with 
us  Rev.  John  B.  Renville,  and  journeyed  up  through 
Minnesota  and  across  Dakota  to  the  Missouri  River,  and 
into  the  eastern  corner  of  Nebraska.  On  our  way,  we 
spent  some  time  at  the  head  of  the  Coteau,  preaching 
and  administering  the  ordinances  of  the  Gospel  to  our 
old  church  members,  and  gathering  in  a  multitude  of 
new  converts,  ordaining  elders  over  them,  and  licensing 
two  of  the  best  qualified  to  preach  the  Gospel.  When 
we  reached  the  Niobrara,  we  found  the  Christians  of  the 
prison  at  Davenport  and  the  Christians  of  the  camp 
at  Crow  Creek  now  united;  and  they  desired  to  be 
consolidated  into  one  church  of  more  than  400  mem 
bers.  We  helped  them  to  select  their  religious  teachers, 
which  they  did  from  the  men  who  had  been  in  prison. 
So  mightily  had  the  Word  of  God  prevailed  among 
them  that  almost  the  entire  adult  community  professed 


APPENDIX.  —  MONOGRAPHS.  395 

to  be  Christians.  Rev.  John  P.  Williamson  was  there  in 
charge  of  the  work. 

For  four  successive  summers,  it  was  our  privilege  to 
travel  together  in  this  work  of  visiting  and  reconstruct 
ing  these  Dakota  Christian  communities.  We  also 
extended  our  visits  to  the  villages  of  the  wild  Teeton 
Sioux  along  the  Missouri  River.  Dr.  Williamson  claimed 
that  Indians  must  be  more  honest  than  white  people; 
for  he  always  took  with  him  an  old  trunk  without  lock 
or  key,  and  in  all  these  journeys  he  did  not  lose  from  a 
thread  to  a  shoe-string. 

For  thirty-six  years  the  doctor  was  a  missionary  of  the 
American  Board.  But  after  the  union  of  the  assemblies, 
and  the  transfer  of  the  funds  contributed  by  the  New 
School  supporters  of  that  board  to  the  Presbyterian 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  the  question  of  a  change  of 
our  relations  was  thoughtfully  considered  and  fully  dis 
cussed.  He  was  too  strong  a  Presbyterian  not  to  have 
decided  convictions  on  that  subject.  But  there  were,  as 
we  considered  it,  substantial  reasons  why  we  could  not 
go  over  as  an  entire  mission.  And  so  we  agreed  to  divide, 
Dr.  Williamson  and  his  son,  Rev.  John  P.  Williamson, 
transferring  themselves  to  the  Presbyterian  Board,  while 
my  boys  and  myself  remained  as  we  were.  The  divis 
ion  made  no  disturbance  in  our  mutual  confidence,  and 
no  change  in  the  methods  of  our  common  work.  Rather 
have  the  bonds  of  our  union  been  drawn  more  closely 
together,  during  the  past  eight  years,  by  an  annual  con 
ference  of  all  our  Dakota  pastors  and  elders  and  Sabbath- 
school  workers.  This  has  gathered  and  again  distrib 
uted  the  enthusiasm  of  the  churches;  and  has  become 
the  director  of  the  native  missionary  forces.  With  one 
exception,  Dr.  Williamson  was  able  to  attend  all  these 


396  MARY   AND    I. 

annual  convocations,  and  added  very  much  to  their 
interest. 

While  the  synod  of  Minnesota  was  holding  its  sessions 
in  St.  Paul  in  October,  1877,  the  good  doctor  was  lying 
at  the  point  of  death,  as  was  supposed,  with  pneumonia. 
Farewell  words  passed  between  him  and  the  synod.  But 
liis  work  was  not  then  done,  and  the  Lord  raised  him  up 
to  complete  it.  At  the  next  meeting  of  the  synod,  he 
presented  a  discourse  on  Rev.  G.  H.  Pond;  and  during 
the  winter  following  he  finished  his  part  of  the  Dakota 
Bible.  Then  his  work  appeared  to  be  done,  and  he  de 
clined  almost  from  that  day  onward. 

On  my  way  up  to  the  land  of  the  Dakotas,  in  the 
middle  of  May,  1879,  I  stopped  over  a  day  with  my 
old  friend.  He  was  very  feeble,  but  still  able  to  walk 
out,  and  to  sit  up  a  good  part  of  the  day.  We  talked 
of  many  things.  He  then  expressed  the  hope  that  as 
the  warm  weather  came  on  he  might  rally,  as  he  had 
done  in  former  years.  But  the  undertone  was  that,  as 
the  great  work  of  giving  the  Bible  to  the  Dakotas  in 
their  own  language  was  completed,  there  was  not  much 
left  for  him  to  do  here.  He  remarked  that,  during  the 
last  forty-four  years,  he  had  built  several  houses,  all  of 
which  had  either  gone  to  pieces,  or  were  looking  old,  and 
would  not  remain  long  after  he  was  gone.  But  the 
building  up  of  human  souls  that  he  had  been  permitted 
to  work  for,  and  which,  by  the  grace  of  God,  he  had 
seen  coming  up  into  a  new  life,  through  the  influence  of 
the  Word  and  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  confi 
dently  believed  would  remain. 

When  I  spoke  of  the  near  prospect  of  his  dissolution 
to  his  Dakota  friends,  there  arose  in  all  the  churches  a 
(jreat  prayer  cry  for  his  recovery.  This  was  reported  to 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  397 

him,  and  he  sent  back  this  message,  by  the  hand  of  his 
son  Andrew :  "  Tell  the  Indians  that  father  thanks  them 
very  much  for  their  prayers,  and  hopes  they  will  be 
blessed  both  to  his  good  and  theirs.  But  he  does  not 
wish  them  to  pray  that  his  life  here  may  be  prolonged, 
for  he  longs  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ."  And  the 
testimony  of  Rev.  G.  F.  McAfee,  pastor  of  the  Presby 
terian  church  in  St.  Peter,  who  often  visited  and  prayed 
with  him  in  his  last  days,  is  to  the  same  effect:  "He 
absolutely  forbade  me  to  pray  that  he  might  recover,  but 
that  he  might  depart  in  peace." 

And  so  his  longing  was  answered.  He  died  on  Tues 
day,  June  24,  1879,  in  the  morning  watch. 

He  had  no  ecstasies,  but  he  looked  into  the  future 
world  with  a  firm  and  abiding  faith  in  Him  whom,  not 
having  seen,  he  loved.  Of  his  last  days,  John  P.  Will 
iamson  writes  thus :  — 


"He  seemed  to  be  tired  out  in  body  and. mind,  with  as  much 
disinclination  to  talk  as  to  move,  and  apparently  as  much  from 
the  labor  of  collecting  bis  mind  as  the  difficulty  of  articulation. 
1  think  he  talked  very  little  from  the  time  I  was  here  going  home 
from  General  Assembly  (June  1)  till  his  death,  and  for  some  time 
was  perhaps  unconscious. 

"  You  may  know  that  father  had  a  special  distaste  for  what  are 
called  death-bed  experiences.  Still,  we  thought  that  perhaps,  at 
the  last,  when  the  bodily  pains  ceased,  there  might  be  a  little  lin 
gering  sunshine  from  the  inner  man,  but  such  was  not  the  case; 
and  perhaps  it  was  most  fitting  that  he  should  die  as  he  had 
lived,  with  no  exalted  feelings  or  bright  imagery  of  the  future, 
but  a  stern  faith,  which  gives  hope  and  peace  in  the  deepest 
waters." 

He  lived  to  see  among  the  Dakotas  ten  native  ordained 
Presbyterian  ministers  and  about  800  church  members, 


398  MARY   AND   I. 

besides  a  large  number  of  Episcopalians,  a  success  prob 
ably  much  beyond  his  early  anticipations. 

On  the  farther  shore  he  has  joined  the  multitude  that 
have  gone  before.  Of  his  own  family  there  are  the  three 
who  went  up  in  infancy.  Next,  Smith  Burgess,  a  manly 
Christian  boy,  was  taken  away  very  suddenly.  Then 
Lizzie  Hunter  went  in  the  prime  of  womanhood.  The 
mother  followed,  a  woman  of  quiet  and  beautiful  life. 
And  then  the  sainted  Nannie  went  up  to  put  on  white 
robes.  Besides  these  of  his  family,  a  multitude  of  Dako- 
tas  are  there,  who  will  call  him  father.  I  think  they 
have  gathered  around  him  and  sung,  under  the  trees  by 
the  river,  one  of  his  first  Dakota  hymns  :  — 

"  Jehowa  Mayooha,  nimayakiye, 
Nitowashta  iwadowan." 

"  Jehovah,  my  Master,  thou  hast  saved  me, 
I  sing  of  thy  goodness." 

My  friend  —  my  long-life  friend  —  my  companion  in 
tribulation  and  in  the  patience  of  work,  I  almost  envy 
thee  \hy  first  translation. 

S.  R.  R. 


A  MEMORIAL. 


ELIZA  HUGGINS  ;    NANNIE  WILLIAMSON ;   JULIA   LA 
FRAMBOISE. 


ELIZA  W.  HUGGINS. 

THE  Lord  came  to  his  garden,  and  gathered  three 
fair  flowers,  which  now  bloom  in  the  city  of  our  God. 
We,  who  knew  their  beauty,  come  to  lay  our  loving  re 
membrances  upon  their  graves. 

Eliza  Wilson  Huggins  was  the  third  child  of  Alexan 
der  G.  and  Lydia  Huggins.  She  was  born  March  7, 
1837,  and  died  June  22,  1873. 

She  early  gave  herself  to  Jesus,  and  her  lovely  life  was 
like  a  strain  of  sacred  music,  albeit  its  years  of  suffering 
brought  out  chords  of  minor  harmony. 

This  young  girl,  in  the  dawn  of  womanhood,  with  gen 
tle  step  and  loving  voice,  was  a  revelation  to  us  who 
were  younger  than  she.  Huguenot  blood  ran  swiftly  in 
her  veins,  and  grief  and  joy  were  keen  realities  to  her 
sensitive  soul.  But  she  quieted  herself  as  a  child  before 
the  Lord,  and  he  gave  her  the  ornament  which  is  with 
out  price.  Though  she  wist  not,  her  face  shone,  and  we, 
remembering,  know  that  she  had  been  with  Jesus. 

Her  sister,  Mrs.  Holtsclaw,  writes  :  "  We  are  of  Hugue 
not  descent  on  our  father's  side.  Our  great-great-grand 
father  was  born  at  sea  in  the  flight  from  France  to  Eng- 


400  MAKY    AND    I. 

land.  Two  brothers  (in  that  generation  or  the  one 
following)  came  to  America,  one  settling  in  North  Caro 
lina,  the  other  in  New  England.  Our  grandfather  left 
North  Carolina  when  father  was  a  small  boy,  because  he 
thought  slavery  wrong,  and  did  not  wish  his  children 
exposed  to  its  influences. 

"Grandmother  Huggins  was  a  sister  of  Rev.  James 
Gilliland  of  Red  Oak,  Ohio.  She  was  a  very  earnest 
Christian,  and  often  prayed  that  her  descendants,  to  the 
latest  generation,  might  be  honest,  humble  followers  of 
Jesus. 

"  Eliza  was  converted,  and  united  with  the  church  in 
Felicity,  Ohio,  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Smith  Poage. 
She  was,  I  think,  about  twelve  years  of  age." 

She  was  a  most  loving  daughter,  sister,  and  friend, 
because  she  had  given  herself  unreservedly  to  Him  who 
yearns  to  be  more  than  friend,  mother,  or  brother  to  us 
all.  When  heavy  bereavements  came  upon  the  family, 
Jesus  kept  their  hearts  from  breaking.  The  dear  father 
went  the  way  of  all  the  earth.  Then  a  brother-in-law, 
who  was  a  brother  indeed  ;  then  the  elder  brother,  tried 
and  true,  in  an  instant  of  time,  speeds  home  to  heaven ; 
and  again  a  younger  brother,  in  his  bright  youth ; 
these  three  were  the  family's  offering  upon  the  altar  of 
freedom.  A  costly  offering!  A  heavy  price  paid! 
"Though  he  slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  in  him." 

For  seven  years  Miss  Huggins  taught  school  as  con 
tinuously  as  her  health  permitted.  Her  methods  as  a 
teacher  were  followed  by  peculiar  success.  She  loved 
children,  and  had  a  most  earnest  desire  to  help  them  up 
to  all  that  is  best  and  wisest  in  life.  Children  know  by 
instinct  whose  is  the  firm  yet  loving  hand  stretched  out 
to  lead  them  in  the  paths  of  pleasantness  and  peace. 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  401 

Some  of  this  time  she  taught  in  the  mission  school.  Her 
sister  says:  — 

"  I  cannot  write  of  her  long  sickness,  her  intense  suf 
fering,  her  patient  waiting  to  see  what  the  Lord  had  in 
store  for  her;  all  this  is  too  painful  for  me.  St.  An 
thony,  where  she  first  came  with  such  bright  hopes  of 
finding  health,  was  the  place  from  which  she  went  to  her 
long  rest.  It  was  the  place  where  she  found  cure. 

"The  Dakota  text-book,  which  she  and  Nannie  pre 
pared,  was  a  labor  of  much  thought  and  prayer.  It  was 
not  published  until  after  she  had  gone  home." 

Mignonette  and  sweet  violets  may  well  be  emblem 
flowers  for  this  lovely  sister.  Would  that  I  might  strew 
them  on  her  grave,  in  the  early  summer-time,  as  a  fare 
well  till  we  meet  again. 


NANCY  JANE   WILLIAMSON. 

BY    M.    E.    M. 

WHEN  an  army  marches  on  under  fire,  and  one  after 
another  falls  by  the  way,  the  ranks  close  up  that  there 
may  ever  be  an  unbroken  front  before  the  foe.  So  in 
life's  battle,  as  one  by  one  drops  out  of  the  ranks,  we 
who  are  left  must  needs  march  on.  Yet,  if  we  stop  a  lit 
tle  to  think  and  talk  of  the  ones  gone,  it  may  help  us  as 
we  press  forward.  Then,  to-day  let  us  bring  to  mind 
something  of  the  life  of  a  sister  departed. 

Nannie  J.  Williamson  was  born  at  Lac-qui-parle,  Minn., 
on  the  28th  of  July,  1840.  From  her  birth  she  was 
afflicted  with  disease  of  the  spine,  so  that  she  was 


402  MARY   AND   I. 

almost  two  years  old  before  she  walked  at  all,  and  then 
her  ankles  bent  and  had  to  be  bound  in  splints.  "  Aunt 
Jane "  mentions  that  Nannie  was  in  her  fourth  year 
when  she  first  saw  her,  and  at  that  time,  when  the  chil 
dren  went  out  to  play,  her  brother  John  either  carried  her 
or  drew  her  in  a  little  wagon,  to  save  her  the  fatigue  of 
walking.  So  she  must  have  truly  borne  the  yoke  in  her 
youth.  That  the  burden  was  not  lifted  as  the  years 
went  by,  we  may  judge  from  the  facts  that  when  away 
at  school,  both  in  Galesburg,  111.,  and  Oxford,  Ohio,  she 
was  under  the  care  of  a  physician  ;  and  she  almost  al 
ways  studied  her  lessons  lying  on  her  back. 

Though  her  days  were  stretched  out  to  her  38th  year, 
her  body  never  fully  ripened  into  womanhood,  and  her 
heart  never  lost  the  sweetness  and  simplicity  of  the 
child.  It  was  not  so  with  her  mind.  Overleaping  the 
body,  with  a  firm  and  strong  grasp,  it  took  up  every 
object  of  thought,  and  filled  its  storehouse  of  knowledge. 

"The  date  of  her  conversion  is  not  known.  She 
loved  Jesus  from  a  child." 

In  the  fall  of  1854  our  family  moved  to  within  two  miles 
of  Dr.  Williamson's  new  station  of  Pay-zhe-hoo-ta-zee,  or 
Yellow  Medicine.  From  that  time  we  were  intimately 
associated,  and  many  delightful  memories  are  connected 
with  those  days.  In  September,  1857,  Nannie  went  to 
the  W.  F.  Seminary  at  Oxford,  Ohio.  She  made  many 
friends  among  her  school-mates,  and  all  respected  her  for 
her  consistent  character,  her  faithfulness  in  her  studies, 
and  her  earnestness  in  seeking  to  bring  others  to  Christ. 
One  with  more  thankful  humility  never  lived.  She  was 
always  so  very  grateful  for  the  least  favor  or  kindness 
done  her,  and  seemed  ever  to  bear  them  in  mind.  She 
was  exceedingly  thoughtful  for  other  people,  never 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  403 

seemed  to  think  evil  of  any  one,  and  never  failed  to 
find  kindly  excuses  for  one's  conduct  if  excuses  were  pos 
sible.  After  the  burning  of  the  seminary  building,  the 
senior  class,  of  which  Nannie  was  one,  finished  their 
studies  in  a  house  secured  for  that  purpose.  Then  fol 
lowed  the  sorrowful  days  of  '62,  that  broke  up  so  many 
homes,  ours  among  others.  Some  time  after,  Nannie 
wrote  this :  "  It  is  a  little  more  than  a  year  since  we  left 
our  dear  old  homes.  I  wonder  if  our  paths  will  ever  lie 
so  near  together  again  as  they  have  in  times  past.  Who 
can  tell  ?  But  though  we  may  seem  to  be  far  apart,  we 
trust  we  are  journeying  to  the  same  place,  and  we  shall 
meet  there" 

During  the  months  that  Nannie's  mother  waited  to  be 
released  from  earthly  suffering,  the  daughter  spared  none 
of  lier  strength  to  do  what  she  could  for  the  faithful, 
patient  mother.  After  there  was  nothing  more  to  do  on 
earth  for  that  mother,  then  indeed  Nannie  felt  the  effects 
of  the  long  strain  on  body  and  mind.  Even  then  her 
nights  were  painful  and  unresting.  But,  after  recruiting 
a  little,  she  entered  upon  the  work  to  which  her  thoughts 
had  often  turned,  that  of  uplifting  the  Dakota  women 
and  children.  In  1873,  "she  joined  her  brother,  Rev.  J. 
P.  Williamson,  in  missionary  labor,  at  Yankton  agency, 
Dakota  Territory,  under  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  For 
eign  Missions,  and  continued  in  it  until  her  death,  No 
vember  18,  1877." 

"Her  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  was  such  that  the 
minister  scarcely  needed  any  other  concordance  when  she 
was  by,  and  during  her  last  illness  every  conversation 
was  accompanied  with  Scripture  quotations. 

"Notwithstanding  her  physical  weakness,  she  taught 
school  and  did  much  other  work ;  and,  as  all  was  conse- 


404  MARY    AND    I. 

crated  to  the  Lord,  we  are  sure  she  has  much  fruit  in 
glory.  Many  in  the  Sabbath-schools  of  Traverse  and  St. 
Peter  received  lessons  from  her,  whose  impression  will 
last  to  eternity." 

In  the  spring  of  1876,  she  went  to  Ohio  on  the  occasion 
of  a  reunion  of  the  first  five  graduating  classes  of  the  W. 
F.  Seminary,  Oxford,  Ohio.  She  desired  with  great  desire 
to  meet  her  class-mates,  and  the  beloved  principal,  Miss 
Helen  Peabody ;  and  also  to  visit  relatives,  among  them 
two  aged  aunts,  one  of  whom  crossed  over  to  the  other 
side  a  little  before  her.  She  took  great  delight  in  her 
visit,  and  yet  her  nights  were  wearisome,  and  she  was 
probably  not  entirely  comfortable  at  any  time.  But  she 
did  not  complain. 

On  her  last  visit  home  her  face  bore  the  impress  of 
great  suffering.  It  was  with  difficulty  she  could  raise 
either  hand  to  her  head,  and  could  only  sleep  with  her 
arms  supported  on  pillows.  They  would  fain  have  kept 
her  at  home,  but  she  longed  to  do  what  she  could  as  long 
as  she  could.  So  she  went  back,  taught  in  the  school, 
visited  the  sick,  read  from  the  Bible  in  the  tents,  and 
prayed.  In  her  last  illness  some  of  these  women  came 
and  prayed  with  her,  and  so  comforted  her  greatly.  She 
did  not  forget  her  brother's  children,  in  her  anxiety  for 
the  heathen  around  them,  and  they  will  long  remember 
Aunt  Nannie's  prayerful  instructions. 

With  so  little  strength  as  she  had,  it  was  not  strange 
that,  when  fever  prostrated  her,  she  could  not  rally  again. 
So  she  lay  for  nearly  eight  weeks,  suffering  much,  but 
trusting  much  also.  At  times  she  hoped  to  be  able  to 
work  again  for  the  women,  if  the  Lord  willed.  But  when 
she  knew  that  her  earthly  life  was  nearly  ended,  she  sent 
this  message  to  her  aunt :  "  Do  not  grieve,  dear  aunt. 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  405 

Though  I  had  desired  to  do  much  for  these  women  and 
girls,  the  prospect  of  heaven  is  very  sweet."  For  a  while 
she  had  said  now  and  then  :  "  I  wonder  how  long  I  shall 
have  to  lie  here  and  wait,"  but  one  day  she  remarked,  "  I 
do  not  feel  at  all  troubled  now  about  how  long  I  may 
have  to  wait :  Jesus  has  taken  that  all  away."  When  any 
one  came  in  to  see  her,  she  said  a  few  words,  and  as  the 
school  children  were  gathered  around  her  one  day  she 
talked  to  them  a  little  while  for  the  last  time.  Two  days 
before  her  death,  she  dictated  a  letter  to  her  father,  who 
had  himself  been  very  near  death's  door,  but  was  recover 
ing  :  "  I  do  rejoice  that  God  has  restored  you  to  health 
again.  I  trust  that  years  of  usefulness  and  happiness  may 
still  be  yours.  I  am  gaining  both  in  appetite  and  strength. 
I  feel  a  good  deal  better."  But  the  night  that  followed 
was  a  sleepless  one,  and  the  next  day  she  suffered  greatly. 
About  dark  her  brother  said  to  her,  "  You  have  suffered 
a  great  deal  to-day."  She  answered,  "Yes,  but  the  worst 
is  over  now."  He  said,  "Jesus  will  send  for  you,"  and 
she  replied,  "  Yes,  I  think  he  will,  for  he  says,  '  I  will 
that  they  also,  whom  thou  hast  given  me,  be  with  me 
where  I  am.' " 

She  spoke  now  and  then  to  different  ones,  a  word  or 
two,  asked  them  to  read  some  Scripture  texts  from  the 
"  Silent  Comforter  "  that  hung  where  she  could  always 
see  it,  wanted  it  to  be  turned  over,  and,  with  her  face  to 
the  wall,  she  seemed  to  go  to  sleep.  She  so  continued 
through  the  night,  her  breath  growing  fainter  and  fainter. 
And  at  day-break  on  the  morning  of  the  Sabbath  the 
other  life  began.  "  That  is  the  substance,  this  the  shadow  / 
that  the  reality,  this  the  dream" 


406  MAEY   AND   I. 


JULIA  LA  FRAMBOISE. 

JULIA  A.  LA  FRAMBOISE  was  the  daughter  of  a  French 
trader  and  of  a  Dakota  mother.  When  nine  years  of 
age,  her  father  placed  her  in  Mr.  Huggins'  family.  In 
that  Christian  home  she  learned  to  love  her  Saviour,  and, 
one  year  later,  covenanted  forever  to  be  his.  Her  father 
was  a  Catholic,  and  would  have  preferred  that  his  daugh 
ter  remain  in  that  church,  but  allowed  her  to  choose  for 
herself.  His  affection  for  her  and  hers  for  him  was  very 
strong. 

After  her  father's  death,  Julia  determined  to  use  her 
property  in  obtaining  an  education.  She  spent  two  years 
in  the  mission  school  at  Hazelwood,  then  going  to  the  W. 
F.  Seminary,  Oxford,  Ohio,  and  for  a  short  time  to 
Painesville,  Ohio,  and  afterward  to  Rockford,  111.  Hav 
ing  taken  a  full  course  of  study  there,  she  returned  to 
Minnesota  as  a  teacher. 

Our  mother  had  a  warm  affection  for  Julia,  as  indeed 
for  each  of  the  others  of  whom  we  write.  Julia  called 
our  house  one  of  her  homes,  and,  whenever  with  us,  she 
took  a  daughter's  share  in  the  love  and  labor  of  the  house 
hold. 

A  story  of  my  mother's  childhood  illustrates  the  spirit 
of  benevolence  by  which  she  influenced  Miss  La  Fram 
boise  among  others.  Her  surviving  sister,  Mrs.  Lucretia 
S.  Cooley,  writes :  — 

"  When  the  first  missionaries  from  the  vicinity  of  my 
early  home,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Richards  of  Plainfield,  went  to 
the  Sandwich  Islands,  sister  Mary  was  a  little  girl.  She 
was  deeply  impressed  by  the  story  of  the  wants  of  the 
children,  as  portrayed  by  Mr.  Richards,  and  expressed  a 


APPENDIX.  —  MONOGRAPHS.  407 

strong  desire  to  accompany  him.  She  had  just  learned  to 
sew  quite  nicely.  Looking  up  to  mother,  she  said, '  I  could 
teach  the  little  girls  to  sew.'  Here  was  the  missionary 
spirit.  Those  who  go  to  the  Indians,  to  the  islands  of 
the  sea,  to  Africa,  must  needs  be  ready  to  teach  all  things, 
doing  it  as  to  the  Lord." 

When  the  call  to  teach  among  her  own  people  came, 
Miss  La  Framboise  gladly  embraced  the  opportunity, 
laboring  for  them  in  season  and  out  of  season  for  two 
short  years.  Her  health  failing,  she  was  taken  to  her  old 
home  in  Minnesota,  where  she  died,  September  20,  1871, 
but  twenty-eight  years  of  age. 

Mrs.  Holtsclaw,  one  of  her  girlhood  friends,  went  to 
her  in  that  last  sickness.  She  wrote:  "I  was  with  her 
when  she  died.  It  was  beautiful  to  see  the  steady  care 
and  gentle  devotion  of  her  step-mother,  of  the  rest  of  the 
family,  and  of  the  neighbors." 

Miss  La  Framboise  was  thoroughly  educated,  thorough 
ly  the  lady ;  always  loyal  to  her  people,  even  when  they 
were  most  hated  and  despised ;  always  generous  in  her 
deeds  and  words;  always  to  be  depended  upon. 

Oh,  could  we  but  have  kept  her  to  work  many  years 
for  the  ennobling  and  Christianizing  of  the  Dakotas ! 

Bring  lilies  of  the  prairie  for  this  grand-daughter  of  a 
chieftain  —  ay,  more,  this  daughter  of  the  King ! 

I.  R.  W. 


THE  FAMILY  REUNION.— 1879. 


EIGHTEEN  years  had  gone  by  since  the  family  were 
all  together  on  mission  ground.  That  was  in  the  sum 
mer  of  1861.  In  the  summer  of  1858,  Alfred  had  grad 
uated  at  Knox  College,  Illinois;  and  Isabella  returned 
with  him  from  the  Western  Female  Seminary,  Ohio. 
They  gladly  arrived  at  home,  in  borrowed  clothes,  having 
trod  together  "  the  burning  deck  "  of  a  Mississippi  River 
steamboat.  All  were  together  then.  That  fall,  Martha 
went  to  the  Western  Female  Seminary,  and  was  there 
when  the  school  building  was  burned  in  1860.  After 
that  she  came  home,  and  Isabella  went  back  to  graduate. 
In  the  meantime,  Alfred  had  become  a  member  of  the 
Theological  Seminary  of  Chicago.  And  so  it  happened 
that  all  were  not  at  home  again  together  until  the  sum 
mer  of  1861.  Then  came  the  Sioux  outbreak,  and  the 
breaking-up  of  the  mission  home.  Though  a  new  home 
was  made  at  St.  Anthony,  and  then  at  Beloit,  it  never 
came  to  pass  that  all  were  together  at  any  one  time. 

Then  new  home  centres  grew  up.  Alfred  was  married 
in  June,  1863.  Isabella  was  married  in  February,  1866, 
and  very  soon  sailed  for  China.  Martha  was  married  in 
December  of  the  same  year,  and  went  to  live  in  Minne 
sota.  The  dear  mother  went  to  the  Upper  Home  in 
March,  1869.  Alfred  moved  to  the  mission  field  at  San- 
tee  Agency,  Nebraska,  in  June,  1870.  Anna  was  married 

408 


APPENDIX.  —  MONOGRAPHS.  409 

in  October  of  the  same  year  and  moved  to  Iowa.  While 
Martha,  the  same  autumn,  removed  to  open  the  Mission 
ary  Home  at  the  Sisseton  Agency.  In  May,  1872,  a  new 
mother  came  in,  to  keep  the  hearthstone  bright  at  the 
Beloit  home.  In  February  of  1872,  Thomas  went  to 
Fort  Sully  to  commence  a  new  station,  and  was  married 
in  December  of  the  same  year.  Meanwhile  Henry,  Rob 
ert,  and  Cornelia  were  growing  up  to  manhood  and 
womanhood,  and  getting  their  education  by  books  and 
hard  knocks.  Henry  was  married  in  September,  1878, 
and  Robert  was  tutor  in  Beloit  College,  and  Cornelia  a 
teacher  in  the  Beloit  city  schools. 

At  these  new  home  centers  children  had  been  growing 
up.  At  Kalgan,  China,  there  were  six;  at  Santee,  Neb., 
five  ;  at  Sisseton,  D.  T.,four;  at  Vinton,  Iowa,  three,  and 
at  Fort  Sully,  D.  T.,  one.  Another  sister  had  also  come 
at  the  Beloit  home. 

And  now  the  Chinese  cousins  were  coming  home  to  the 
America  they  had  never  seen.  So  it  was  determined 
that  on  their  arrival  there  should  be  a  family  meeting. 
But  where  should  it  be?  Every  home  was  open  and 
urged  its  advantages.  But  Santee  Agency,  Nebraska, 
united  more  of  the  requisite  conditions  of  central  posi 
tion  and  roomy  accommodations.  And,  besides,  it  was 
eminently  fitting  that  the  meeting  should  be  held  on 
missionary  ground.  And  so  from  early  in  July  on  to 
September  the  clan  was  gathering. 

First  carne  Rev.  Mark  Williams  and  Isabella,  with  their 
six  children,  fresh  from  China,  finding  the  Santee  Indian 
reservation  the  best  place  to  become  acclimated  to  Amer 
ica  gradually.  Father  Riggs  and  Martha  Riggs  Morris, 
with  three  of  her  children,  from  Sisseton  Agency,  arrived 
the  18th  of  August.  On  the  27th  came  Anna  Riggs 


410  MARY    AND    I. 

Warner,  with  her  three  children,  from  Yinton,  Iowa. 
Mother  Riggs  with  little  Edna  arrived  on  the  29th,  from 
Beloit,  Wis.  Mr.  Wyllys  K.  Morris  and  Harry,  their 
eldest  son,  came  across  the  country  by  wagon,  and  drove 
in  Saturday  evening,  the  30th  of  August.  Thomas  L. 
Riggs  and  little  Theodore,  with  Robert  B.  Riggs,  and 
Mary  Cornelia  Octavia  Riggs,  and  their  caravan,  did  not 
arrive  from  Fort  Sully  until  Tuesday  afternoon  of  the 
2d  of  September.  Alfred  L.  and  Mary  B.  Riggs,  and 
Henry  M.  and  Lucy  D.  Riggs  were  of  course  already 
there,  as  they  were  at  home,  and  the  entertainers  of  the 
gathering. 

Now  the  family  were  gathered,  and  this  is  the  Roll:  — 
Stephen    Return    Riggs,  born    in    Steubenville,  Ohio, 
March  23,  1812;  married,  February  16,  1837,   to  Mary 
Ann  Longley,  who  was  born  November  10, 1813,  in  Haw- 
ley,  Mass.,  and  died  March  22,  1869,  in  Beloit,  Wis. 

I.  Alfred  Longley  Riggs,  born  at  Lac-qui-parle,  Minn., 
December  6,  1837  ;  married  June  9,  1863,  to  Mary  Buel 
Hatch,  who  was  born  May  20,  1840,  at  Leroy,  N.  Y. 

Children :  Frederick  Bartlett,  born  at  Lockport,  111., 
July  14,  1865 ;  Cora  Isabella,  born  at  Centre,  Wis., 
August  19, 1868  ;  Mabel,  born  at  Santee  Agency,  Nebraska, 
September  11, 1874 ;  Olive  Ward,  born  at  Santee  Agency, 
Nebraska,  June  13,  1876 ;  Stephen  Williamson,  born  at 
Santee  Agency,  Nebraska,  April  28,  1878. 

II.  Isabella   Burgess    Riggs,   born    at    Lac-qui-parle, 
Minn.,  February  21,  1840;  married  February  21, 1866,  to 
Rev.  W.  Mark  Williams,  who  was  born  October  28, 1834, 
in  New  London,  Ohio. 

Children  :  Henrietta  Blodget,  born  at  Kalgan,  China, 
September  25,  1867;  Stephen  Riggs,  born  at  Kalgan, 
China,  August  22,  1870 ;  Emily  Diament,  born  at  Kalgan, 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  411 

China,  May  26, 1873  ;  Mary  Eliza,  born  at  Kalgan,  China, 
August  3,  1875;  Margaret  and  Anna,  born  at  Kalgan, 
China,  May  30,  1878. 

III.  Martha   Taylor    Riggs,   born    at    Lac-qui-parle, 
Minn.,  January  27,  1842;  married  December  18,  1866,  to 
Wyllys  King  Morris,  who  was  born  in  Hartford,  Conn., 
September  11,  1842. 

Children  :  Henry  Stephen,  born  at  Sterling,  Minn., 
June  21,  1868;  Philip  Alfred,  born  at  Good  Will,  D.  T., 
August  4,  1872,  and  died  at  Binghamton,  N".  Y.,  August 
18,  1873 ;  Mary  Theodora,  born  at  Good  Will,  D.  T., 
July  31,  1874;  Charles  Riggs,  born  at  Good  Will,  D.  T., 
June  21,  1877;  Nina  Margaret  Foster,  born  at  Good 
Will,  D.  T.,  May  30,  1879. 

IV.  Anna  Jane  Riggs,  born  at  Traverse  des  Sioux, 
Minn.,  April   13,   1845;    married    October    14,   1870,  to 
Horace  Everett  Warner,  who  was  born  January  10, 1839, 
near  Painesville,  Ohio. 

Children :  Marjorie,  born  at  Belle  Plaine,  Iowa, 
September  29,  1872;  Arthur  Hallam,  born  in  Yinton, 
Iowa,  October  28,  1875 ;  Everett  Longley,  born  in  Yinton, 
Iowa,  July  15,  1877. 

Y.  Thomas  Lawrence  Riggs,  born  at  Lac-qui-parle, 
Minn.,  June  3,  1847 ;  married  December  26,  1872,  to 
0  >nielia  Margaret  Foster,  who  was  born  in  Bangor, 
Me.,  March  19,  1848,  and  died  August  5,  1878,  at  Fort 
Sully,  D.  T. 

Child :  Theodore  Foster,  born  near  Fort  Sully,  D.  T., 
July  7,  1874. 

YI.  Henry  Martyn  Riggs,  born  at  Lac-qui-parle, 
Minn.,  September  25,  1849;  married  September  24,  1878, 
to  Lucy  M.  Dodge,  who  was  born  at  Grafton,  Mass., 
February  29,  1852. 


412  MARY    AND    I. 

VII.  Robert  Baird  Riggs,  born  at  Hazelwood,  Minn., 
May  22,  1855. 

VIII.  Mary  Cornelia  Octavia  Riggs,  born  at  Hazel- 
wood,  Minn.,  February  17,  1859. 

Stephen  R.  Riggs  married,  May  28,  1872,  Mrs.  Annie 
Baker  Ackley,  who  was  born  March  14,  1835,  in  Gran- 
ville,  Ohio. 

IX.  Edna  Baker  Riggs,  born  at  Beloit,  Wis.,  Decem 
ber  2,  1874. 

The  sons  and  daughters  brought  into  the  original  family 
by  marriage  contributed  much  to  the  success  of  the  re 
union.  The  cousins  will  not  soon  forget  the  inimitable 
stories  of  Uncle  Mark.  Horace  E.  Warner  wrote  a 
charming  letter,  proving  conclusively  that  he  was  really 
present ;  while  Uncle  "VVyllys  must  have  gained  the  per 
petual  remembrance  of  the  boys  by  taking  them  swim 
ming.  Mary  Hatch  Riggs  was  the  unflagging  main-spring 
of  the  whole  meeting.  Lucy  Dodge  Riggs  presided  hos 
pitably  at  the  "Young  men's  hall,"  where  many  of  the 
guests  were  entertained;  and  the  new  mother,  Annie 
Baker  Riggs,  won  the  love  of  all. 

It  would  not  have  been  a  perfect  meeting  without  sec- 
ing  the  face  of  John  P.  Williamson,  the  elder  brother  of 
the  mission.  Then,  too,  there  was  our  friend  Rev. 
Joseph  Ward,  whose  home  at  Yankton  has  so  often  been 
the  "House  Beautiful"  to  our  missionary  pilgrims.  We 
were  also  favored  with  the  presence  of  many  of  our  mis 
sionary  women :  Mrs.  Hall  of  Fort  Berthold,  Misses 
Collins  and  Irvine,  from  Fort  Sully,  and  Misses  Shepard, 
Paddock,  Webb,  and  Skea,  of  Santee.  The  children  will 
long  remember  the  party  given  them  by  Miss  Shepard  in 
the  Dakota  Home,  and  the  picnic  on  the  hill. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  any  adequate  report  of  such  a 


APPENDIX. — MONOGBAPHS.  413 

reunion.  The  renewal  of  acquaintance,  taking  the  bear 
ings  of  one  another's  whereabouts  in  mental  arid  spiritual 
advance,  is  more  through  chit-chat  and  incidental  revela 
tions  than  in  any  of  the  things  that  can  be  told. 

And  so  we  gather  in  as  memorials  and  reminders  some 
of  the  papers  read  at  the  evening  sociables,  and  some 
paragraphs  from  reports  of  the  reunion  published  in  the 
Word  Carrier  and  Advance.  First,  we  will  have  Isa 
bella's  paper,  the  story  of  that  long  journey  home— -By 
Land  and  by  Sea :  — 

"  Ding  lang,  ding  lang,  ding  lang!  Hear  the  bells.  The  litters 
are  packed,  the  good-bys  spoken.  Thirteen  years  of  work  in  sor 
row  and  in  joy  are  over.  *  Good-by.  We  will  pray  for  you  all; 
do  not  forget  us.' 

"  Down  the  narrow  street,  past  the  closely  crowded  houses  of  more 
crowded  inmates,  beyond  the  pale  green  of  the  gardens,  on  the 
stony  plain,  and  our  long  journey  is  begun. 

"Eight  hours  and  the  first  inn  is  reached,  we  having  made  a 
twenty-five-mile  stage.  Over  rocks  and  river,  fertile  lake-bed; 
desert  plain,  and  through  mountain-gorge,  we  creep  our  way,  till, 
on  the  fifth  day,  the  massive  walls  of  Peking  loom  up  before  us. 

"  Here  there  are  cordial  greetings  from  warm  hearts,  and  willing 
hands  stretched  out  to  help.  Best  of  all  is  the  inspiration  of 
mission  meeting,  with  its  glad,  good  news  from  Shantung  Province. 

"By  cart  and  by  canal  boat  again  away.  At  Tientsin  we  ride 
by  starlight,  in  jinrickshas,  to  the  steamer.  How  huge  the  mon 
ster!  How  broad  seems  the  river,  covered  here  and  yonder,  and 
again  yonder,  with  fleets  of  boats ! 

"  We  ensconce  ourselves  in  the  assigned  state-rooms,  and  little 
Anna's  foster-mother  keeps  a  vigil  by  the  child  so  soon  to  be  hers 
no  more.  '  Farewell,  farewell.' 

"Gray  morning  comes,  and  the  ponderous  engine  begins  his 
work.  We  move  past  boats,  ships,  steamers,  past  the  fort  at 
Taku,  out  on  the  open  sea.  No  one  sings,  '  A  Life  on  the  Ocean 
Wave,'  or  '  Murmuring  Sea,'  for  our  '  day  of  youth  went  yester 
day.'  The  enthusiasm  of  early  years  is  gone.  Instead,  I  read 
reverently  the  107th  Psalm,  verses  23,  31.  Then  with  the  strong, 


414  MAllY    AND    I. 

glad,  spray-laden  breeze  on  one's  face,  it  is  fitting  to  read,  'The 
Lord  on  high  is  mightier  than  the  noise  of  many  waters,  yea,  than 
the  mighty  waves  of  the  sea.'  '  Let  the  sea  roar,  and  the  fulness 
thereof.  Let  the  floods  clap  their  hands  .  .  .  before  the  Lord.' 
'The  sea  is  his  and  he  made  it.'  'The  earth  is  full  of  thy 
riches.  So  is  this  great  and  wide  sea.  There  go  the  ships :  there 
is  that  leviathan,  whom  thou  hast  made  to  play  therein.' 

"Five  days,  and  we  steam  up  through  the  low,  flat,  fertile 
shores  of  Woo  Sung  River  to  Shanghai. 

"  Ho  for  the  land  of  the  rising  sun!  Two  days  we  sail  over  a 
silver  sea  ;  yonder  is  Nagasaki,  and  now  a  heavy  rain  reminds  us 
that  this  is  Japan.  On  through  the  Inland  Sea.  How  surpass 
ingly  beautiful  are  the  green  hills  and  mountains  on  every  side. 

"At  Kobe  we  receive  a  delightful  welcome  from  Mr.  C.  H. 
Gulick's  family,  and  on  the  morrow  we  meet  our  former  co-laborer 
in  the  Kalgan  work,  Rev.  J.  T.  Gulick.  Ten  days  of  rest,  and 
our  little  Anna  is  herself  again.  She  is  round  and  fair  and  sweet, 
and  every  one  laughingly  says  she  is  more  like  our  hostess  than 
like  me. 

"  Again  away,  in  a  floating  palace,  fitly  named  City  of  Tokio. 
We  glide  out  of  sight  of  Japan,  with  hearts  strangely  stirred  by 
God's  work  in  that  land. 

"  One  sail  after  another  disappears,  until  we  are  alone  on  the 
great  ocean.  Water,  water,  water  everywhere. 

"  Our  days  are  all  alike.  Constant  care  of  the  children  and 
thoughts  of  home  and  beloved  ones  keep  hand  and  heart  busy. 
The  events  of  each  day  are  breakfast,  tiffin,  and  dinner,  daintily 
prepared,  and  faultlessly  served  by  deft  and  noiseless  waiters.  We 
think  it  a  pleasant  variety  when  a  stiff  breeze  makes  the  waves 
run  high.  The  table  racks  are  on,  yet  once  and  again  a  glass  of 
water  or  a  plate  of  soup  goes  over.  We  turn  our  plates  at  the 
proper  angle,  when  the  long  roll  begins,  and  unconcernedly  go  on. 

"  One  day  of  waves  mountain  high,  which  sweep  us  on  to  our 
desired  haven.  On  the  eighteenth  day  we  see  the  shore  of  beautiful 
America.  How  the  heart  beats!  So  soon  to  see  father,  brothers, 
and  sisters!  Thank  God.  Aye,  tLank  him  too  for  the  manifold 
mercies  of  our  journey. 

"  How  strange  and  yet  familiar  are  the  sights  and  sounds  of 
San  Francisco.  The  children's  eyes  shine  as  they  plan  and 
execute  raids  on  a  toy  store. 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  415 

"  There  is  yet  the  land  journey  of  thousands  of  miles.  By 
night  and  by  day  we  speed  on;  across  gorge,  through  tunnel  and 
snow-shed,  over  the  alkali  plains,  over  fertile  fields  to  Omaha. 

"At  last  we  arrive  in  Yankton,  and  a  cheery  voice  makes 
weary  hearts  glad.  'I  am  Mr.  Ward.  Your  brother  Henry  is 
here.'  Ah,  is  that  Henry!  How  he  has  changed  from  boyhood 
to  manhood ! 

"  '  Over  the  hills  and  far  away.'  Here  we  are!  How  beautiful 
the  mission  houses  look !  And  the  dear  familiar  faces !  Rest  and 
home  at  last  for  a  little  while.  '  For  here  have  we  no  continuing 
city,  but  we  seek  one  to  come.'  " 

But  journeying  may  be  done  much  more  quickly  by 
thought,  and  spirit  may  go  as  quick  as  thought.  So  here 
is  the  account  of  Horace  E.  Warner's  thought  journey 
to  the  family  meeting :  — 

"  If  there  has  seemed  to  be  any  lack  of  interest  on  my  part  in 
the  family  reunion,  it  is  only  in  the  seeming.  For  my  decision  to 
stay  at  home  was  made  with  deep  regret,  and  after  the  slaying  of 
much  strong  desire.  But,  aside  from  the  gratification  which  it 
would  have  given  me  to  see  you  all,  and  which  I  hope  it  would 
have  given  you  to  see  me,  I  do  not  think  the  idea  of  the  meeting  is 
impaired  by  my  absence.  Only  this  —  I  feel  as  though  I  had,  not 
wilfully  nor  willingly,  but  none  the  less  certainly,  cut  myself  off 
from  that  sympathy  —  in  the  Greek  sense  —  which  I  stood  in  much 
need  of,  and  can  ill  afford  to  miss. 

"  I  suppose  you  are  now  all  together  with  one  accord  in  one 
place,  so  far  as  that  is  possible.  To  be  all  together  would  require 
the  union  of  two  worlds.  And  this  may  be,  too,  —  shall  we  not 
say  it  is  so  ?  But  if  the  dear  ones  from  the  unseen  world  are 
present,  though  you  can  not  hear  their  speech  nor  detect  their 
presence  by  any  of  the  senses,  can  not  you  feel  that  I  am  really 
with  you  in  some  sense  too  ?  Of  course,  the  difference  is  great,  but 
so  also  the  difference  is  great  between  the  meeting  of  friends  in  the 
natural  body  and  the  spiritual  body.  If  the  mind,  the  soul,  con 
stitutes  the  man  rather  than  the  animal  substances,  or  the  myriad 
cells  which  make  up  his  physical  organization,  why  may  not  I 
leap  over  the  insignificant  barrier  that  divides  us  ?  As  I  write, 


416  MARY    AND    I. 

this  feeling  is  very  strong  with  me.  It  is  vague  and  indefinite, 
but  yet  it  seems  to  me  that  I  have  been  having  some  kind  of 
communication  or  communion  with  you.  At  all  events,  my  heart 
goes  out  strongly  toward  you  all  with  fervent  desire  that  the 
meeting  will  be  full  of  joy  and  comfort  —  of  sweetest  and  spiritual 
growth  —  the  occasion  of  new  inspiration,  new  courage,  new  hopes. 
It  is  not  likely  that  there  can  be  any  repetition  of  it  this  side  of 
the  '  city  which  hath  foundations.' 

"So  the  memories  of  this  meeting  should  be  the  sweetest,  and 
should  cluster  thick  around  you  in  the  years  of  separation.  This 
much  I  must  perforce  miss.  For  though  I  do  truly  rejoice  in  your 
joys,  and  partake  with  you  of  the  gladness  of  the  meeting  after  so 
long  a  time;  yet  it  is  only  by  imagination  and  sympathy  that  I 
make  myself  one  with  you,  and  of  this  the  future  can  have  no 
recollection." 

Now  we  will  let  others  give  their  thoughts  of  the 
meeting,  as  it  seemed  to  them  from  outside.  And,  first, 
a  few  words  from  Rev.  John  P.  Williamson  of  Yankton 
Agency :  — 

"  The  first  week  in  September,  1879,  will  long  be  remembered  by 
the  Riggs  family,  and  by  one  or  two  who  were  not  Riggses.  From 
the  east  and  the  west,  from  the  north  and  the  south,  and  from 
across  the  mighty  Pacific,  they  gathered  at  the  eldest  brother's 
house,  at  Santee  Agency,  Nebraska,  for  a  family  reunion.  It  was 
forty-two  years  last  February  since  Stephen  Return  Riggs  married 
Mary  Ann  Longley  and  came  out  as  a  missionary  to  the  Dakotas ; 
and  now  in  his  sixty-eighth  year,  his  step  still  light,  and  his  heart 
still  young,  he  walks  in  to  his  son's  house  to  find  himself  surrounded 
by  nine  children,  three  sons-in-law,  two  daughters-in-law,  and  nine 
teen  grandchildren;  with  himself  and  wife  making  a  company  of 
thirty-five,  and  all  present  except  one  son-in-law. 

"  This  roll  may  never  be  as  interesting  to  universal  mankind  as 
that  in  the  tenth  chapter  of  Genesis,  but  it  is  almost  extended 
enough  to  evolve  a  few  general  truths.  If  we  were  to  pick  these 
up,  our  first  deduction  would  be  that  like  begets  like.  This  man 
has  certainly  given  more  than  his  proportion  of  missionaries. 
And  why,  except  that  like  begets  like  ?  He  was  a  missionary,  his 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  417 

children  partook  of  his  spirit,  and  became  missionaries.  We 
heard  some  mathematical  member  of  the  company  computing  the 
number  of  years  of  missionary  service  the  family  had  rendered. 
The  amount  has  slipped  our  memory,  but  we  should  say  it  was 
over  one  hundred  and  fifty. 

"  Our  other  deduction  would  be  that  the  missionary  profession 
is  a  healthy  one.  Here  is  a  family  of  no  uncommon  physical 
vigor,  and  yet  not  a  single  death  occurred  among  the  children, 
who  are  in  goodly  number.  True,  the  mother  of  the  family  has 
finished  her  work  and  crossed  the  river  to  wait  with  her  longing 
smile  the  coming  children,  but  another  ministers  in  her  room, 
who  has  added  little  Aunt  Edna  to  the  list,  to  stand  before  her 
father  when  the  rest  are  far  away." 

Next,  we  have  the  observations  of  Rev.  Joseph  Ward 
of  Yankton :  — 

"  Families  have  their  characteristic  points  as  well  as  individ 
uals.  The  family  of  Rev.  S.  R.  Riggs,  D.D.,  is  no  exception  to 
this.  Their  characteristics  all  point  in  one  direction.  It  is  nota 
bly  a  missionary  family.  It  began  on  missionary  ground  forty- 
two  years  ago  at  Lac-qui-parle,  Minn.  From  that  time  until 
the  present  the  name  of  the  family  head  has  always  appeared  in 
the  list  of  missionaries  of  the  American  Board.  One  after  another 
the  names  of  the  children  have  been  added  to  the  list,  until  now 
we  find  Alfred,  Isabella,  Martha,  Thomas,  Henry,  attached  to. 
the  mission;  and  doing  genuine  missionary  work,  though  not 
bearing  a  commission  from  the  board,  are  two  more,  Robert  and 
Cornelia. 

"What  place  more  suitable  for  the  meeting  together  of  father, 
children,  and  children's  children  —  thirty-four  all  told,  counting 
those  who  have  joined  the  family  by  marriage  —  than  Santee 
Agency,  Nebraska,  a  mission  station  of  the  A.  B.  0.  F.  M. 

"  Though  not  of  the  family,  I  was  honored  by  an  invitation  to 
attend  the  meeting,  assured  that  a  '  bed  and  a  plate  would  be  re 
served  for  me ' ;  and  so,  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  September,  I 
stood  on  the  bank  of  the  Missouri,  opposite  the  agency,  waiting 
for  the  ferry-man  to  set  me  across.  I  came  at  the  right  time,  for 
presently  the  delegation  from  Fort  Sully  drove  their  two  teams  to 
the  landing,  and  in  a  moment  more  Rev.  J.  P.  Williamson,  with 


418  MARY    AND    I. 

his  oldest  daughter,  from  Yankton  Agency,  were  added  to  our 
number. 

"They  came  from  the  east  and  the  west  and  the  north. 
These  from  Sisseton,  these  from  Sully,  and  these  from  the  land  of 
Sinim,  for  the  oldest  daughter  and  her  husband,  Rev.  Mark  Will 
iams,  have  been  for  thirteen  years  in  Kalgan,  Northern  China, 
and  now  for  the  first  time  come  back  to  see  the  father  and  the 
fatherland.  The  personal  part  of  the  meeting  I  have  no  right  to 
mention.  I  speak  only  of  its  missionary  character.  The  very 
prudential  committee  itself,  in  its  weekly  meetings,  cannot  be 
more  thoroughly  imbued  with  a  missionary  spirit  than  was  every 
hour  of  this  reunion.  And  how  could  it  be  otherwise  ?  All  the 
reminiscences  were  of  their  home  on  missionary  ground,  at  Lac- 
qui-parle,  at  Traverse  des  Sioux,  and  at  Hazelwood.  Did  they 
talk  of  present  duties  and  doings  ?  What  could  they  have  for 
their  theme  but  life  at  Kalgan,  at  Good  Will,  at  Santee,  and  at 
Sully  !  Did  they  look  forward  to  what  they  would  do  after  the 
family  meeting  was  over  ?  The  larger  part  were  to  go  two  hun 
dred  miles  and  more  overland,  to  attend  the  annual  meeting  of 
the  Indian  churches  at  Brown  Earth.  And,  besides,  how  to  reach 
out  from  their  present  stations  and  seize  new  points  for  work  was 
the  constant  theme  of  thought. 

"  Wednesday  evening  there  was  a  gathering  of  the  older  ones 
and  the  larger  children.  The  father  read  a  sketch  recalling  a  few 
incidents  of  the  family  life.  The  reading  brought  now  laughter 
and  then  tears.  Forty-two  years  could  not  come  and  go  without 
leaving  many  a  sorrow  behind. 

"The  mother,  who  had  lived  her  brave  life  for  a  third  of  a 
century  among  the  Indians,  was  not  there.  A  beautiful  crayon 
portrait,  hung  that  day  for  the  first  time  over  the  piano,  was  a 
sadly  sweet  reminder  of  her  whose  body  was  laid  to  rest  only  a  year 
ago  among  the  Teetons,  on  the  banks  of  the  Upper  Missouri. 
Then  another  paper  of  memories  from  one  of  the  daughters, 
lighted  with  joy  and  shaded  with  sorrow,  a  few  words  of  cheer 
and  counsel  from  the  oldest  son,  and  a  talk  in  Chinese  from  the 
Celestial  member,  were  the  formal  features  of  the  evening. 

"  As  I  sat  in  the  corner  of  the  study  and  heard  and  saw,  there 
came  to  me,  clearer  than  ever  before,  the  wonderful  power  there 
is  in  a  consecrated  life.  Well  did  one  of  them  say  that  if  they 
had  gained  any  success  in  their  work,  it  was  by  singleness  of 


APPENDIX.  —  MONOGRAPHS.  419 


They  have  not  been  assigned  to  a  prominent  place  in  the  work  of 
the  world,  but  rather  to  the  most  hidden  and  hopeless  part.  But, 
by  their  persistence  of  purpose,  they  have  done  much  to  lift  up 
and  make  popular,  in  a  good  sense,  missionary  work  in  general, 
and  particularly  work  for  the  Indians.  It  is  a  record  that  will 
shine  brighter  and  brighter  through  the  ages.  Eight  children  and 
thirteen  grandchildren  born  on  missionary  ground,  and  a  total  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  years  of  missionary  work. 

*'  But  the  end  is  not  yet.  They  have  just  begun  to  get  their 
implements  into  working  order.  Their  training-schools  are  just 
beginning  to  bear  fruit.  Most  fittingly,  a  few  days  before  the 
gathering  began,  came  a  large  invoice  of  the  entire  Bible  in 
Dakota,  the  joint  work  of  Dr.  Riggs  and  his  beloved  friend  and 
fellow-worker,  Dr.  Williamson,  who  has  just  gone  home  to  his 
rest.  At  the  same  time  came  the  final  proof-sheets  of  a  goodly- 
sized  hymn  and  tune  book  for  the  Dakotas,  mainly  the  work  of 
the  eldest  sons  of  the  two  translators  of  the  Bible.  The  harvest 
that  has  been  is  nothing  to  the  harvest  that  is  to  be.  Dr.  Riggs 
may  reasonably  hope  to  see  more  stations  occupied,  more  books 
made,  more  churches  organized  in  the  future  than  he  has  seen  in 
the  past.  When  the  final  record  is  made,  he  will  have  the  title  to 
a  great  rejoicing  that  he  and  his  family  were  permitted  by  the 
Master  to  do  so  much  to  make  a  sinful  world  loyal  again  to  its 
rightful  Lord." 

Martha's  paper,  which  was  read  on  that  occasion,  is 
a  very  touching  description  of  a  missionary  journey  made 
under  difficulties,  six  years  before,  from  Sisseton  to 
Yankton  Agency. 

"  GOING    TO   MISSION   MEETING. 

"  As  I  sit  on  the  doorsteps  in  the  twilight,  the  little  ones  asleep 
in  their  beds,  I  hear  a  solitary  attendant  on  the  choir-meeting 
singing.  His  voice  rings  out  clearly  on  the  night  air:  — 

"  '  Jesus  Christ  nitowashte  kin 
"Woptecashni  mayaqu '  — 

singing  it  to  the  tune,  Watchman. 


420  MARY    AND    I. 

"  That  tune  has  a  peculiar  fascination  and  association  for  me, 
and  my  thoughts  often  go  back  over  the  time  when  I  first  heard  it. 

"  It  was  in  the  month  of  roses,  in  the  year  '73,  that,  in  company 
with  some  of  the  Renvilles  and  others,  I  undertook  a  land  jour 
ney  to  the  Missouri.  I  had  with  me  the  lad  Harry,  then  five 
years  old,  and  a  sunny-haired  boy  of  nearly  a  year,  little  Philip 
Alfred.  He  never  knew  his  name  here.  Does  he  know  it  now  ? 
Or  has  he  another,  an  '  angel  name  '  ? 

"  The  rains  had  been  abundant,  and  the  roads  were  neither 
very  good  nor  very  well  traveled.  So  some  unnecessary  time  was 
spent  in  winding  about  among  marshes,  and  we  made  slow  prog 
ress.  More  than  once  we  came  to  a  creek  or  a  slough  where  the 
water  came  into  the  wagons.  The  Indian  women  shouldered 
their  babies  and  bundles  as  well,  and  trudged  through,  with  the 
exception  of  Ellen  Phelps  and  Mrs.  Elias  Gilbert.  Their  husbands 
were  so  much  of  white  men  as  to  shoulder  their  wives  and  carry 
them  across.  Being  myself  a  privileged  person,  I  was  permitted 
to  ride  over,  first  mounting  the  seat  to  the  wagon,  holding  on  for 
dear  life  to  the  wagon-bows  with  one  hand,  and  to  the  sunny- 
haired  boy  with  the  other. 

"  By  the  end  of  the  week  we  had  only  reached  the  Big  Sioux, 
which  we  found  up  and  booming.  I  was  crossed  over  in  a  canoe 
with  my  two  children,  the  stout  arms  of  two  Indian  women  pad 
dling  me  over.  Then  we  climbed  up  the  bank,  and  waited  for 
the  wagons  to  come  around  by  some  more  fordable  place  down 
below.  While  waiting,  I  talked  awhile  with  Mrs.  Wind,  who  had 
been  a  neighbor  of  ours  on  the  Coteau.  Her  lawful  husband,  a 
man  of  strong  and  ungoverned  passions,  had  grown  tired  of  her 
and  taken  another  woman.  So  Mrs.  Wind,  who  had  borne  with 
his  overbearing  and  his  occasional  beatings,  quietly  left  him. 
This  was  an  indignity  her  proud  spirit  could  not  brook.  She 
went  to  the  River  Bend  Settlement  to  live  with  her  son,  and  there 
I  saw  her.  I  said  to  her,  '  Shall  you  go  back  to  the  hill  country  ? ' 
'  No,'  she  said;  '  the  man  has  taken  another  wife,  and  I  shall  not 
go.'  I  have  since  heard  of  her  from  time  to  time,  and  she  still 
remains  faithful. 

"  The  Sabbath  over,  we  went  on  again  re-inforced  by  the  delega 
tion  from  Flandreau.  Reaching  Sioux  Falls  in  the  afternoon, 
we  avoided  the  town,  and  went  on  to  a  point  where  some  one 
thought  the  river  might  be  fordable.  But  alas!  we  found  we  had 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  421 

been  indulging  in  vain  expectations.  The  river  was  not  forda- 
ble,  and  canoe  or  ferry-boat  there  was  none.  But  necessity  is  the 
mother  of  invention.  The  largest  and  strongest  wagon-box  was 
selected,  the  best  wagon-cover  laid  on  the  ground,  the  boat  lifted 
in,  and,  with  the  aid  of  various  ropes,  an  impromptu  boat  was 
made  ready.  Long  ropes  were  tied  securely  to  either  end,  poles 
laid  across  the  box  to  keep  things  out  of  the  water,  and  then  the 
boat  was  launched.  The  men  piled  in  the  various  possessions  of 
different  ones  and  as  many  women  and  children  as  they  thought 
safe.  Then  four  of  the  best  swimmers  took  the  ropes  and  swam 
up  the  river  for  quite  a  distance,  coming  down  with  the  current, 
and  so  gaining  the  other  shore.  This  occupied  some  time,  and 
was  repeated  slowly  until  night  came  on,  finding  the  company 
partly  on  one  side  and  partly  on  the  other.  The  wagon,  in  which 
we  had  made  our  bed  o'  nights,  not  being  in  a  condition  for  sleep 
ing  in,  as  the  box  lay  by  the  river-side  all  water-soaked,  Edwin 
Phelps  and  Ellen,  his  wife,  kindly  vacated  theirs  for  our  benefit, 
themselves  sleeping  on  the  ground.  When  the  early  morning 
came,  the  camp  was  soon  astir,  and,  breakfast  being  hastily  de 
spatched,  the  work  of  crossing  over  was  renewed.  I  watched  them 
drive  over  the  horses ;  the  poor  animals  were  very  loath  to  make  a 
plunge,  and  some  of  them  turned  and  ran  back  on  the  prairie 
more  than  once  before  they  were  finally  forced  into  the  water. 
When  most  of  the  others  were  over  it  came  my  turn  to  cross. 
The  so-called  boat  looked  rather  shaky,  but  there  was  nothing  to 
do  but  to  get  in  and  take  one's  chance.  So  I  climbed  in,  keeping 
as  well  as  I  could  out  of  the  water,  which  seemed  to  nearly  fill 
the  wagon-box.  Some  one  handed  the  two  children  in,  and,  bold- 
ing  tightly  to  them,  I  resigned  myself  to  the  passage.  At  one 
time  I  heard  a  great  outcry,  but  could  not  distinguish  any  words, 
and  so  sat  still,  unconscious  that  one  of  the  ropes  had  broken, 
rendering  the  boat  more  unsafe  still.  At  last  I  was  safely  over, 
thankful  enough.  When  finally  every  thing  and  everybody  were 
across,  and  the  boat  restored  to  its  proper  place,  we  started  on  our 
way,  at  about  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning.  To  make  up  for  the 
late  starting,  the  teams  were  driven  hard  and  long,  and  the  twi 
light  had  already  gathered  when  we  stopped  for  the  night.  After 
1  had  given  my  children  a  simple  supper,  and  they  were  hushed 
to  sleep,  I  looked  out  on  the  picturesque  scene.  The  great  red 
moon  was  rising  in  the  sky,  and  in  its  light  the  travelers  had 


422  MARY    AND    I. 

gathered  around  the  camp-fire  for  their  evening  devotions.  As  I 
walked  across  to  join  them,  they  were  singing:  — 

"  'Jesus  Christ,  nitowashte  kin 
Woptecashni  raayaqu '  — 

" '  Jesus  Christ,  thy  loving  kindness 
Boundlessly  thou  givest  me'  — 

to  the  tune  Watchman.  It  struck  my  fancy,  and  I  seldom  hear  it 
now  without  thinking  of  that  night,  and  of  the  sunny-haired  boy 
who  was  then  taking  his  last  earthly  journey,  and  who  has  all 
these  years  been  learning  of  the  goodness  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  in  all  its  wonderful  fulness.  An  incident  of  one  day's 
travel  remains  clear  in  my  mind.  The  lad  Harry  often  grew 
tired  and  restless,  as  was  not  strange,  and  so  sometimes  he  was 
somewhat  careless  too.  In  an  unguarded  moment,  he  fell  out, 
and  one  of  the  hind  wheels  passed  over  his  body.  How  I 
held  my  breath  until  the  horses  could  be  stopped  and  the  boy 
reached !  It  seemed  a  great  marvel  that  he  had  received  no  injury. 
It  was  surely  the  goodness  of  the  Lord  that  had  kept  him  from 
harm. 

"  On  Wednesday  we  came  into  Yankton,  where  I  bought  a 
quantity  of  beef,  wishing  to  show  my  appreciation  of  the  labors 
of  the  men  in  our  behalf.  So  when  camp  was  made  at  night 
the  women  had  it  to  make  into  soup,  and,  almost  before  it 
seemed  that  the  water  could  have  fairly  boiled,  all  hands 
were  called  to  eat  of  it,  and  it  was  despatched  with  great 
celerity. 

"  The  next  afternoon  a  fierce  storm  broke  over  us,  and  we  were 
compelled  to  stop  for  an  hour  or  more,  while  the  rain  poured 
down  in  torrents  and  the  heavens  were  one  continual  flame 
of  light.  When  again  we  started  on,  every  hole  by  the  road 
side  had  become  a  pool,  and  the  water  was  rushing  througn 
every  low  place  in  streams.  The  rain  retarded  our  progress 
greatly,  yet  we  came  in  sight  of  the  Yankton  Agency  before 
noon  of  the  next  day.  Just  as  we  reached  it,  we  found  a 
little  creek  to  cross,  where  a  bridge  had  been  washed  away 
the  night  before.  The  banks  were  almost  perpendicular,  and 
we  held  our  breath  as  we  watched  one  team  after  another  go 
down  and  come  up,  feeling  sure  that  some  of  the  horses  would  go 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  423 

down  and  not  come  up  again.  But,  to  our  great  relief,  all  went 
safely  over.  And  very  soon  we  had  arrived  at  the  mission  house 
occupied  by  Rev.  J.  P.  Williamson  and  family,  and  were  receiv 
ing  the  kindly  welcomes  of  all.  The  hospitality  there  enjoyed 
was  such  as  to  make  us  almost  forget  ouwtedious  journey  thither 
ward. 

"  From  my  traveling  companions  I  had  received  all  possible 
kindness,  yet  in  many  ways  I  had  found  the  journey  quite  try 
ing.  It  was  not  practicable  to  vary  one's  diet  very  much,  with 
the  care  of  the  little  ones  just  large  enough  to  get  into  all  mis 
chief  imaginable.  So  I  remembered  with  especial  gratitude 
Edwin  and  Ellen  Phelps,  who  used  now  and  then,  at  our  stop 
ping-places,  to  borrow  the  boy,  so  helping  me  to  get  a  little 
rest  or  to  do  some  necessary  work  which  would  otherwise 
have  been  impossible.  At  that  time  Edwin  and  his  wife 
had  no  children,  and  their  eyes  often  followed  my  boy  with 
yearning  looks.  Since  then  the  Lord  has  given  them  little 
ones  to  train  for  his  kingdom,  and  they  are  happy. 

"  But  of  that  little  sunny-haired  baby  boy  we  have  naught  but 
a  memory  left  —  and  this  consolation :  — 

"  '  Christ,  the  good  Shepherd,  carries  my  lamb  to-night, 
And  that  is  best.' 

"  And  this  :  — 

"  '  Mine  entered  spotless  on  eternal  years, 
Oh,  how  much  blest!  '" 

During  the  meeting  the  tastes  and  needs  of  the 
children  were  not  forgotten,  but  Aunt  Anna  held  them 
attent  to  her 

MEMORIES     OF     THE     OLD     HOME-LIFE,    WRITTEN    FOR    THE 
GRANDCHILDREN. 

"  Shut  your  eyes,  and  see  with  me  the  home  place  at  Lac-qui- 
parle  —  a  square  house  with  a  flat  roof,  a  broad  stone  step  be 
fore  the  wide-open  door  — cheery  and  sunshiny  within.  Wel 
come  to  grandfather's  home! 

"  To  the  right,  in  the  distance,  is  the  lake  Mdeiyedan,  where, 
like  a  tired  child,  the  sun  dropped  his  head  to  rest  each  night. 


424  MARY    AND    I. 

Between  us  and  the  lake  was  a  wooded  ravine,  at  the  foot  of 
which,  down  that  little  by-path,  was  the  coolest  of  springs,  with 
wild  touch-me-nots  nodding  above  it,  and  a  little  further  on  a 
large  boulder  on  which  we  used  to  play. 

"It  seems  to  us  as  if  f^e  had  but  just  come  in  from  a  long  sum 
mer's  walk,  with  our  hands  full  of  flowers,  and  each  and  every 
one  must  have  a  bouquet  to  set  in  his  or  her  favorite  window. 
The  wind,  blowing  softly,  brings  with  it  a  breath  of  sweet  cleavers, 
and —  well,  so  I  must  tell  you  what  I  remember. 

"  I  can  not  stop  to  tell  you  of  all  the  little  things  that  made  our 
home  pk-a^ant  and  lovely  in  our  eyes  ;  or  of  the  dear  mother  who 
had  it  in  her  keeping,  for  I  know  all  the  grandchildren  are  waiting 
for  their  stories. 

"  Well,  I  will  begin  by  telling  the  wee  cousins  about  the  family 
cat,  Nelly  Ely,  and  one  of  her  kittens,  Charlotte  Corday.  Kittens 
have  some  such  cunning  ways,  you  know,  but  Nelly  Ely  was  one 
of  the  knovvingest  and  best.  She  and  her  kitten  were  as  much 
alike  as  two  peas  in  a  pod  —  jet-black,  and  with  beautiful  yellow- 
green  eyes.  Nelly  Ely  used  to  curl  herself  up  to  sleep  in  grandpa's 
fur  cap,  or  sometimes  in  grandma's  work-basket;  and  if  she  could 
do  neither,  she  would  find  a  friendly  lap.  One  day  poor  pussy 
chose  much  too  warm  a  place.  Grandma  had  started  up  the 
kitchen  fire,  and  was  making  preparations  for  dinner  when  she 
heard  pussy  mewing  piteously  —  as  she  thought,  in  some  other  room. 
She  went  to  the  doors  one  by  one  to  let  pussy  in,  and  no  pussy 
appeared,  but  still  she  heard  her  mewing  as  if  in  pain.  What 
could  grandma  do  ?  She  was  neither  down  cellar  nor  up-stairs. 
She  would  look  out-of-doors  —  but  no  — just  then  pussy  screamed 
in  an  agony  of  pain.  Grandma  ran  to  the  stove,  opened  the  door, 
and  pussy,  as  if  shot  out  from  a  cannon's  mouth,  came  flying  past 
us  —  her  back  singed  and  her  poor  little  paws  all  burned.  I  can't 
tell  whether  she  learned  the  moral  of  that  lesson  or  not,  but  I 
know  she  never  was  shut  up  in  the  oven  again. 

"Yet  not  so  very  long  after,  when  the  old  house  was  burned, 
Nelly  Ely  and  Charlotte  Corday  found  a  sadder  fate.  Poor  little 
kittens!  —  we  spent  hour  after  hour  searching  for  their  bones,  but 
with  small  success,  and  then  we  buiied  them  with  choking  sobs 
and  eyes  wet  with  childish  tears. 

"Do  not  let  me  forget  to  tell  you  of  Pembina  and  Flora,  nor  of 
the  starry  host  that  bedecked  our  barn-yard  sky  —  every  calf,  how- 


APPENDIX.  —  MONOGRAPHS.  425 

ever  humble,  was  worthy  of  a  name.  There  were  our  oxen,  Dick 
and  Darby,  George  and  Jolly,  and  Leo  and  Scorpio,  who  used  to 
weave  along  with  stately  swinging  tread  under  their  burden  of 
hay.  Then  Spika  and  Denebola,  Luna  and  Lyra  —  all  worthy  of 
honorable  mention.  Flora,  gentle,  but  with  an  eye  that  terrified 
the  little  maid  who  sometimes  milked  her,  —  so,  with  wise  fore 
thought,  a  handful  of  salt  was  sometimes  thrown  into  the  bottom 
of  her  pail.  You  will  hardly  believe  it,  but  she  grew  to  be  so  fond 
of  her  pail  that  she  found  her  way  into  the  winter  kitchen  and 
anticipated  her  evening  meal.  How  she  ever  got  through  two 
gates  and  two  doors  is  a  mystery  still. 

"And  there  was  Pembina— how  well  we  remember  the  day 
when  grandpa  brought  home  a  new  cow,  and  how  we  all  went 
down  to  meet  him,  and  named  her  and  her  calf,  Little  Dorrit,  on 
the  spot.  She  was  the  children's  cow  par  excellence,  and  blessings 
on  her,  we  could  all  milk  at  a  time.  She  had  several  bad  habits, 
one  of  which  was  eating  old  clothes  and  paper,  or  rubbish  gener 
ally.  Once  I  remember  she  made  a  vain  attempt  at  swallowing  a 
beet,  and  if  grandpa  had  not  come  in  the  nick  of  time  to  beat  her 
on  the  back  she  would  have  been  dead  beat. 

"  Our  horses,  too,  were  a  part  of  the  family.  There  were  Polly 
and  Phenie,  short  for  Napoleon  Bonaparte  and  Josephine  —  Fanny 
and  Tatty coram  (we  had  been  reading  Dickens  then). 

UI  remember  hearing  our  own  mother  tell  of  the  ox  they  had 
when  they  lived  at  Traverse  des  Sioux,  their  only  beast  of  burden, 
and  how  he  used  to  stand  and  lick  the  window-panes,  and  how 
when  the  Indians  shot  him  she  felt  as  if  she  had  lost  a  friend  and 
companion. 

"  if  these  stories  of  our  dear  animal  friends  grow  too  tiresome,  I 
might  remember  about  the  Squill  family  at  Hazelwood  —  how  they 
all,  including  Timothy  and  Theophilus,  contributed  something 
every  week  to  a  family  paper.  I  wonder  if  Theophilus  remembers 
writing  an  essay  for  —  with  red  ink  from  his  arm  —  and  how 
Isabella  said,  '  Now,  be  brave,  Martha,  be  brave  ! '  when  she  was 
letting  herself  down  from  the  topmost  round  of  the  ladder  — 
and  how  Isabella,  when  beheading  the  pope  in  her  fanatical  zeal, 
split  her  forefinger  writh  a  chisel. 

"These  are  a  very  few  only  of  the  rememberings  —  some  of 
them  are  too  sacred  and  too  dear  to  speak  about  —  but  even 
these  little  incidents  seem  endeared  by  the  long  stretch  of  years." 


426  MARY    AND    I. 

Some  memories  of  former  days  were  revived  for  the 
older  children,  and  imparted  to  the  younger  ones,  by  the 
Father's  Paper :  — 

I    REMEMBER. 

As  one  grows  old,  memory  is,  in  some  sense,  unreliable. 
It  does  not  catch  and  hold  as  it  once  did.  But  many 
things  of  long  ago  are  the  things  best  remembered.  Often 
there  is  error  in  regard  to  dates.  The  mind  sees  the 
things  or  the  events  vividly,  but  the  surroundings  are 
dim  and  uncertain.  What  is  aimed  at  in  this  paper  is  to 
gather  up,  or  rather  select,  some  events  lying  along  the 
family  line  and  touching  personal  character. 

The  family  commences  with  the  mother.  I  remember 
well  my  first  visit  to  Bethlehem,  Ind.,  where  I  first 
met  Mary,  with  whom  I  had  been  corresponding,  having 
had  an  introduction  through  Rev.  Dyer  Burgess.  That 
was  in  the  spring.  My  second  visit  to  the  same  place  was 
in  the  autumn  of  1836,  when  the  school-mistress  and  I 
went  on  to  New  England  together. 

FIRST    VISIT    TO   MASSACHUSETTS. 

Of  that  journey  eastward,  and  the  winter  spent  in 
Hawley,  I  should  naturally  remember  a  good  many 
things :  How  when  the  stage  from  Albany  and  Troy  put 
us  down  in  Cbarlemont,  we  hired  a  boy  with  a  one-horse 
wagon  to  carry  us  six  miles  to  Hawley.  But  when  we 
came  to  going  up  the  steep,  rough,  long  hill,  such  as  I  had 
never  climbed  before,  the  horse  could  only  scramble  up 
with  the  baggage  alone.  How  we  reached  the  Longley 
homestead  in  a  real  November  storm,  only  a  few  days 
before  Thanksgiving,  and  were  greeted  by  the  grandpar 
ents,  ninety  years  old,  and  by  the  father  and  mother  and 


APPENDIX.  —  MONOGRAPHS.  427 

brothers  and  sisters  —  all  of  whom,  except  Moses,  have 
since  gone  to  the  other  side.  How  only  a  day  after  our 
arrival  I  was  waited  upon  by  a  committee  of  the  West 
Hawley  church,  and  engaged  to  preach  for  them  during  the 
winter.  How  every  Saturday  I  walked  down  to  Pudding 
Hollow  and  preached  on  Sabbath,  and  usually  walked  up 
on  Monday,  when  I  did  not  get  snowed  in.  How  the 
first  pair  of  boots  I  ever  owned,  bought  in  Ohio,  proved 
to  be  too  small  to  wade  in  snow  with,  and  had  to  be  aban 
doned.  How  the  old  family  horse  had  a  knack  of  turn 
ing  us  over  into  snow-drifts.  How  on  our  first  visit  to 
Buckland,  the  grandfather  Taylor,  then  about  ninety-five 
years  old,  when  he  was  introduced  to  Mary  Ann's  future 
husband,  a  young  minister  from  the  West,  asked,  "  Did 
you  ever  think  what  a  good  horseman  Jesus  Christ  was? 
Why,  he  rode  upon  a  colt  that  had  never  been  broke." 
How  the  old  meeting-house  on  the  hill,  with  its  square 
pews  and  high  pulpit,  creaked  and  groaned  in  the  storm 
of  our  wedding  day,  February  16,  1837.  How  we  left  in 
the  first  days  of  March,  when  the  snow-drifts  on  the  hills 
were  still  fifteen  feet  deep. 

March,  April,  May  passed,  and  the  first  day  of  June  we 
landed  at  Fort  Snelling,  in  the  land  of  the  Dakotas. 

When  another  three  moons  were  passed  by,  and  we  had 
seen  St.  Anthony  and  Minnehaha,  and  made  some  ac 
quaintance  with  the  natives,  I  remember  we  took  passage, 
with  our  effects,  on  board  a  Mackinaw  boat  for  Traverse 
des  Sioux.  The  boat  was  in  command  of  Mr.  Prescott, 
who  accommodated  us  with  tent-room  on  the  journey,  and 
made  the  week  pass  comfortably  for  us.  From  Traverse 
des  Sioux  to  Lac-qui-parle  we  had  our  first  experience  of 
prairie  traveling  and  camping.  It  was  decidedly  a  new 
experience.  But  we  had  the  company  of  Dr.  Williamson 


428  MARY    AND    I. 

and  Mr.  G.  H.  Pond,  while  we  commenced  to  learn  the 
lesson. 

AT    LAC-QUI-PARLE. 

The  long,  narrow  room,  partly  under  the  roof,  of  Dr. 
Williamson's  log  house,  which  became  our  home  for 
nearly  five  years  from  that  September,  is  one  of  the 
memories  that  does  not  fade. 

On  the  6th  of  December  I  remember  coming  home 
from  Mr.  Renville's,  where  we  had  been  all  the  afternoon 
obtaining  translations.  Then  there  was  hurrying  to  and 
fro,  and  the  first  baby  came  into  our  family  of  two.  From 
that  time  on  we  were  three,  and  the  little  Zitkadan-Washta, 
as  the  Indians  named  him,  grew  as  other  children  grow, 
and  did  what  most  children  don't  do,  viz.,  learn  to  go 
down  stairs  before  he  did  up,  because  we  lived  upstairs, 
and  all  children  can  manage  to  go  away  from  home,  when 
they  can't  or  won't  come  back  of  themselves. 

In  those  years  our  annual  allowance  from  the  treasury 
of  the  board  was  $250.  This  was  more  than  the  other 
families  in  the  mission  had  proportionally.  But  it  re 
quired  considerable  economy  and  great  care  in  expendi 
ture  to  make  the  ends  meet.  Not  knowing  the  price  of 
quinine,  and  thinking  four  ounces  could  not  be  a  great 
amount,  we  were  much  surprised  to  find  the  bill  $16.  But 
Dr.  Turner  of  Fort  Snelling  kindly  took  it  off  our  hands. 

Once  we  were  discussing  the  question  of  how  much 
additional  expense  the  baby  would  be,  when  I  said, 
"  About  two  dollars."  Thereafter  Mr.  S.  W.  Pond,  who 
was  present  at  the  time,  called  the  boy  "  Mazaska  nonpa." 

A    PLEASANT    TRIP. 

In  the  second  month  of  1840,  our  three  became  four. 
And  when  the  leaves  came  out  and  the  flowers  began  to 


APPENDIX. M  ONOGRAPHS.  429 

appear,  the  mother  had  a  great  desire  to  go  somewhere. 
But  the  only  place  to  go  was  to  Fort  Snelling.  And  so, 
leaving  Chaskay  and  taking  Hapan,  we  crossed  the 
prairie  to  the  Traverse  des  Sioux  in  company  with  Mr. 
Renville's  caravan.  The  expectation  was  that  the  fur 
company's  boat  would  be  there.  But  it  was  not ;  nor 
even  a  canoe,  save  a  little  leaky  one,  which  barely  aided 
us  in  crossing  the  St.  Peters.  The  journey  through  the 
Big  Woods  was  over  logs  and  through  swamps  and  streams 
for  seventy-five  miles.  We  had  two  horses  but  no  saddle. 
Our  tent  and  bedding  and  such  things  as  we  must  have 
on  the  journey  were  strapped  on  the  horses.  The  moth 
er  rode  one,  —  not  very  comfortable,  as  may  be  supposed, 
—  but  the  baby  girl  had  a  better  ride  on  a  Dakota  woman's 
back.  At  the  end  of  ten  miles,  "  le  grand  canoe "  was 
found,  in  which  they  took  passage.  That  ten  miles  was 
destined  to  be  remembered  by  our  return  also ;  for  there 
where  the  town  of  Le  Sueur  now  stands  our  bark  canoe 
finally  failed  us,  and,  without  an  Indian  woman  to  carry 
the  baby,  we  walked  up  to  the  Traverse,  through  the  wet 
grass.  Altogether,  that  was  a  trip  to  be  remembered. 

One  other  thing  comes  to  my  mind  about  our  first 
"  little  lady."  There  was  only  one  window  in  our  up 
stairs  room.  On  the  outside  of  that  the  mother  had  a 
shelf  fixed  to  set  out  milk  on.  One  morning,  when  every 
one  was  busy  or  out,  the  little  girl,  not  two  years  old, 
climbed  out  of  the  window  and  perched  herself  on  that 
shelf.  It  gave  us  a  good  scare. 

JOURNEY    TO    NEW    ENGLAND. 

In  the  first  month  of  1842  our  family  of  four  was  in 
creased  to  Jive.  And  when  the  summer  came  on,  we  took 
a  longer  journey,  which  extended  to  New  England.  This 


430  MARY    AND   I. 

time  Hapan  was  left  behind  and  Hapistinna  and  Chaskay 
were  the  companions  of  our  journey.  The  grandmother 
in  Hawley  saw  and  blessed  her  grandchild  namesake  Mar 
tha  Taylor.  "Good  Bird"  says  he  remembers  picking 
strawberries  in  the  Hawley  meadow,  where  his  i.ncle 
Alfred  was  mowing,  in  those  summer  mornings. 

NEW    STATION    AT    TKAVEKSE   DES    SIOUX. 

A  whole  year  passed,  and  we  came  back  to  the  land  of 
the  Dakotas,  to  make  a  new  home  at  Traverse  des  Sioux, 
to  experience  our  first  great  sorrow,  and  to  consecrate 
our  Allon-bach-uth  for  the  noble  brother  Thomas  Law 
rence  Longley.  That  was  a  garden  of  roses,  but  a  village 
of  drinking  and  drunken  Sioux ;  and  more  of  trial  came 
into  our  life  of  a  little  more  than  three  years  spent  there 
than  in  any  other  equal  portion.  There  our  Wanskay 
was  born,  and  started  in  life  under  difficulties.  Our  fam 
ily  vifive  had  now  become  six.  Provisions  of  a  good  qual 
ity  were  not  easily  obtained.  But  it  happened  that  wild 
rice  and  Indian  sugar  were  abundant,  and  the  laws  of  hered 
ity  visited  the  sins  of  the  parents  on  our  third  little  lady 
child.  But,  with  all  the  disadvantages  of  the  start,  the 
little  "  urchin  "  grew,  and  grew,  like  the  others. 

SENT    BACK    TO    LAOQUI-PAKLE. 

Trouble  and  sorrow  baptize  and  consecrate.  The  many 
trials  attendant  upon  commencing  our  station  at  Traverse 
des  Sioux  and  the  oaks  of  weeping  there  had  greatly  en 
deared  the  place  to  the  mother;  and  when,  in  September 
of  1846,  the  mission  voted  that  we  should  go  back  to  Lac- 
qui-parle,  she  could  not  see  that  it  was  duty,  and  went 
without  her  own  consent.  It  was  a  severe  trial.  In  a 
few  months  she  became  satisfied  that  the  Lord  had  led  us. 


APPENDIX.  —  MONOGRAPHS. 


431 


What  of  character  the  boy  Halce,  who  was  born  in  the 
next  June,  inherited  from  these  months  of  sadness,  I 
know  not,  but  as  he  came  along  up,  we  called  him  a 
"  Noble  Boy."  The  family  had  then  reached  the  sacred 
number  seven. 

In  the  year  that  followed  we  built  a  very  comfortable 
frame-house  —  indeed,  two  of  them  —  one  for  Mr.  Jonas 
Pettijohn's  family  —  comfortable,  except  that  the  snow 
would  drift  in  through  the  ash  shingles.  Some  of  the 
older  children  can,  perhaps,  remember  times  when  there  was 
more  snow  inside  than  outside.  We  were  up  on  the  hill, 
and  not  under  it,  where  Dr.  Williamson  and  Mr.  Huggins 
had  built  a  dozen  years  before;  and  consequently  the 
winter  winds  were  fiercer,  though  we  all  thought  the 
summers  were  pleasanter.  In  this  house  our  sixth  child 
was  born,  who  has  no  Dakota  cognomen.  We  shall  call 
him  Ishakpe.  The  half-dozen  years  in  which  we  made 
that  house  our  home  were  full  of  work,  broken  in  upon 
by  a  year  spent  in  the  East  —  myself  in  New  York  City 
chiefly.  Henry,  who  could  say  to  enquirers,  "  I  was  two 
years  old  last  September,"  and  Isabella  were  with  their 
mother  in  Massachusetts  and  Brooklyn  —  Martha  and 
Anna  in  the  capital  of  Minnesota,  and  Thomas  at  the 
mission  station  of  Kaposia;  Alfred,  I  believe,  was  at 
Galesburg,  111. 

EDUCATING     THE    CHILDREN. 

It  has  been  a  question  that  we  often  discussed,  "  How 
shall  we  get  our  children  educated  ?  The  basis  of  allow 
ance  from  the  treasury  of  the  board  had  been  on  the  prin 
ciple  of  the  Methodist  circuit  riders.  The  $250  with 
which  we  commenced  was  increased  $50  for  each  child. 
So  that  at  this  time  our  salary  was  either  $500  or  $550. 


432  MARY   AND    I. 

It  was  never  greater  than  the  last  sum  until  after  the 
outbreak  in  1862.  We  lived  on  it  comfortably,  but  there 
was  very  little  margin  for  sending  children  away  to 
school.  And  now  we  were  reaching  that  point  in  our 
family  history  when  a  special  effort  must  be  made  in  that 
direction.  Before  we  went  on  East  in  1851,  the  mother 
and  I  had  talked  the  matter  over  —  perhaps  some  good 
family  would  like  to  take  one  of  the  children  to  educate. 
And  so  it  was,  more  than  one  good  offer  was  received  for 
the  little  boy  Henry.  But  our  hearts  failed  us.  Mrs. 
Minerva  Cook  of  Brooklyn  said  to  me,  "  You  are  afraid 
we  will  make  an  Episcopalian  of  him."  So  near  was  he  to 
being  a  bishop ! 

MISSION     HOUSE     BURNED. 

Many  remembrances  have  to  be  passed  over.  The 
last  picture  I  have  of  those  mission  houses  at  Lac-qui- 
parle  is  when,  on  the  3d  of  March,  1854,  they  were  en 
veloped  in  fire.  The  two  little  boys  had  been  down 
cellar  to  get  potatoes  for  their  mother,  and,  holding  the 
lighted  candle  too  near  to  the  dry  hay  underneath  the 
floor,  the  whole  was  soon  in  a  conflagration,  which  our 
poor  efforts  could  not  stop.  The  houses  were  soon  a 
heap  of  ashes,  and  the  meat  and  many  of  the  potatoes  in 
the  cellar  were  cooked.  The  adobe  church  was  then  our 
asylum,  and  the  family  home  for  the  summer. 

BUILD     AT     HAZELWOOD. 

While  occupying  the  old  church  and  making  prepara 
tions  to  rebuild,  Secretary  S.  B.  Treat  visited  us.  After 
consultation,  our  plans  were  changed,  and  we  erected  our 
mission  buildings  at  Hazel  wood,  twenty-five  miles  further 
down  the  Minnesota,  and  near  to  Dr.  Williamson's  and 
the  Yellow  Medicine  Agency.  During  the  eight  years 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  433 

spent  there,  many  things  connected  with  the  family  life 
transpired.  First  among  them  worthy  to  be  noted  was 
the  rounding  out  of  the  number  of  children  to  eight  — 
"  Toonkanshena,"  so  called  by  the  Indians  —  just  why,  I 
don't  know  —  and  Octavia  the  Hakakta.  In  those  days 
our  Family  Education  Society  had  to  devise  ways  and 
means  to  keep  one  always,  and  sometimes  two,  away  at 
school.  By  and  by,  Zitkadan-Washta  graduated  at 
Knox  College,  and  Hapan  and  Hapistinna  at  the  West 
ern  Female  Seminary  and  College  Hill  respectively.  How 
we  got  them  through  seems  even  now  a  mystery.  But  I 
remember  one  year  we  raised  a  grand  crop  of  potatoes, 
and  sold  100  barrels  to  the  government  for  $300  in  gold. 
That  was  quite  a  lift.  And  so  the  Lord  provided  all 
through  —  then  and  afterward.  Nothing  was  more  re 
markable  in  our  family  history  for  twenty-five  years  than 
its  general  health.  We  had  very  little  sickness.  I 
remember  a  week  or  so  of  doctoring  on  myself  during 
our  first  residence  at  Lac-qui-parle.  Then,  the  summer 
after  our  return  there,  the  fever  and  ague  took  hold  of 
two  or  three  of  the  children.  The  mother  also  was  taken 
sick  suddenly  in  the  adobe  church,  and  Dr.  Williamson 
and  I  had  a  night  ride  up  from  Hazelwood.  At  this 
place  (Hazelwood)  the  baby  boy  Toonkanshena  was  sick 
one  night,  I  remember,  and  we  gave  him  calomel  and 
sent  for  the  doctor.  But  the  most  serious  sickness  of  all 
these  years  was  that  of  my  "  urchin  "  and  Henry,  both 
together  of  typhoid  fever.  I  have  always  believed  that 
prayer  was  a  part  of  the  means  of  their  recovery. 

QUARTER    OF    A   CENTURY. 

When  the  summer  of  1862  came,  it  rounded  out  a  full 
quarter  of  a  century  of  missionary  life  for  us.     Alfred 


434  MARY    AND    I. 

had  completed  his  seminary  course,  and  in  the  meantime 
had  grown  such  a  heavy  black  beard  that  when  he  and  I 
sat  on  the  platform  together,  in  a  crowded  church  in 
Cincinnati,  the  people  asked  which  was  the  father  and 
which  the  son. 

While  waiting  in  Ohio  for  the  graduating  day  of  Ha- 
pistinna  to  come,  I  ran  up  to  Steubenville,  where,  I  was 
born,  and  walked  out  into  the  country  to  the  old  farm 
where  my  boyhood  was  spent.  The  visit  was  not  very 
satisfactory.  Scarcely  any  one  knew  me.  Everything 
had  greatly  changed. 

THE    OUTBREAK. 

The  memories  of  August  18,  1862,  and  the  days  that 
followed,  are  vivid,  but  must  in  the  main  be  passed  over. 
I  can  not  forbear,  however,  to  note  what  a  sorry  group  we 
were  on  that  island  on  the  morning  of  the  19th.  How 
finally  the  way  appeared,  and  we  filed  up  the  ravine  and 
started  over  the  prairie  as  fugitives !  How  the  rain  came 
on  us  that  afternoon,  and  what  a  sorry  camping  we  made 
in  the  open  prairie  after  we  had  crossed  Hawk  River ! 
How  the  little  Hakakta  girl,  when  bed-time  came,  wanted 
to  go  home!  How,  when  the  rain  had  leaked  down 
through  the  wagon-bed  all  night  upon  them,  Mrs.  D. 
Wilson  Moore  thought  it  would  be  about  as  good  to  die 
as  to  live  under  such  conditions  !  How  Hapistinna  and 
Wanskay  wore  off  their  toes  walking  through  the  sharp 
prairie-grass !  How  we  stopped  on  the  open  prairie  to 
kill  a  cow  and  bake  bread  and  roast  meat,  with  no  pans 
to  do  it  in !  And  how,  while  the  process  was  going  on, 
we  had  our  picture  taken !  How  many  scares  we  passed 
through  the  night  we  passed  around  Fort  Ridgely !  How 
thus  we  escaped,  like  a  bird  from  the  snare  of  the  fowler, 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  435 

—  the  snare  was  broken,  and  we  escaped.  How,  when 
the  company  came  to  adjust  their  mutual  obligations, 
nobody  had  any  money  but  D.  Wilson  Moore!  How 
those  women  met  us  on  the  top  of  the  hill  by  Henderson, 
and  were  glad  to  see  us  because  we  had  white  blood  in 
us !  How  on  the  road  we  met  our  old  friend  Samuel  W. 
Pond,  who  welcomed  our  family  to  his  house  at  Shakopee ! 
/ 

FAMILY   IN    ST.    ANTHONY. 

The  memories  of  the  campaign  of  the  next  three 
months  may  be  passed  over,  as  having  little  connection 
with  the  family.  But  I  remember  the  night  when,  with 
more  than  three  hundred  condemnations  in  my  carpet-bag, 
I  had  a  long  hunt  at  midnight  for  the  little  hired  house 
in  which  the  mother  and  children  had  re-commenced 
housekeeping.  The  three  years  in  St.  Anthony  were  ones 
of  varied  experiences.  Wanskay  had  gone  down  to 
Rockford.  Hapan  and  Hapistinna  taught  school  and 
kept  house  for  the  mother  by  turns.  The  three  boys 
went  to  school. 

The  War  of  the  Rebellion  was  not  over,  but  it  was  near- 
ing  its  end,  as  we  soon  knew,  when  one  day  the  noble  boy 
Thomas  brought  in  a  paper  for  me  to  sign,  giving  my 
permission  for  his  enlistment.  I  had  heard  and  read  so 
much  of  boys  of  sixteen  going  almost  at  once  into  the 
hospital  that  I  threw  the  paper  in  the  fire. 

WHAT  WILT  THOU  HAVE  ME  TO  DO? 

The  missionary  work  among  the  Dakotas  was  so  broken 
up,  the  clouds  hung  so  heavily  over  it,  that  I  very  seri 
ously  entertained  the  question  of  giving  up  my  commis 
sion  as  a  missionary  of  the  American  Board,  and  turning 
my  attention  to  work  among  white  people.  In  my  cor- 


436  MARY    AND    I. 

responclence  with  Secretary  Treat  I  proposed  a  kind  of 
half-and-half  work,  but  that  was  not  approved.  Finally 
I  wrote  a  letter  of  withdrawal,  and  sent  it  on  to  Boston. 
But  the  prudential  committee  were  slow  to  act  upon  it. 
In  the  meantime,  Rev.  G.  H.  Pond  came  over  and  gave 
me  a  long  talk.  He  believed  I  should  do  no  such  thing ; 
that  the  clouds  wrould  soon  clear  away ;  that  the  need  of 
work  such  as  I  could  give  would  be  greater  than  ever 
before.  And  so  it  was.  To  me  Mr.  Pond  was  a  prophet 
of  the  Lord,  sent  with  a  special  message.  I  wanted  to 
know  the  way.  And  the  voice  said,  "  This  is  the  way ; 
walk  in  it."  With  new  enthusiasm  I  then  entered  upon 
the  work  of  meeting  the  increasing  demand  for  school- 
books  and  for  the  Bible. 

At  the  very  beginning  of  the  year  1865,  having  com 
pleted  my  three  months'  work  at  the  Bible  House  in 
New  York,  in  .reading  the  proof  of  the  entire  New  Testa 
ment  in  Dakota,  and  other  parts  of  the  Bible,  as  well  as 
other  books,  I  returned  to  our  home  in  St.  Anthony  to 
find  the  mother  away  at  the  water-cure  establishment. 
We  remember  that  as  a  year  of  invaUdism,  of  sickness. 
But  the  skilful  physician  and  the  summer  sun  wrought 
such  a  cure  that  in  the  autumn  we  removed  to  Beloit. 
Here,  with  comparative  health,  she  had  three  and  a  half 
years  of  added  life. 

THE    MOTHER   CALLED    AWAY. 

Among  the  new  things  that  took  place  in  Beloit  in  the 
year  1866  was  the  marriage  of  Hapan  and  Hapistinna, 
the  one  starting  off  for  the  far-off  land  of  the  Celestials, 
so-called,  and  the  other  to  the  frontier  of  Minnesota. 
Wanskay  was  then  our  housekeeper,  and  the  three  boys 
were  in  school.  By  and  by  the  time  came  for  the  mother 


APPENDIX. MONOGRAPHS.  437 

to  be  called  away.  It  was  a  brief  sickness,  and  she  passed 
from  us  into  the  Land  of  Immortal  Beauty.  It  was  a 
comfort  to  us  that  our  first-born,  Zitkadan-Washta,  was 
residing  near  by  that  winter  and  spring  of  1869.  As  I 
remember  it,  three  children  were  far  away,  and  five  gath 
ered  around  the  mother's  grave.  Now,  looking  back 
over  the  ten  years  passed  since  that  time,  I  seem  to 
say:  — 

"  My  thoughts,  like  palms  in  exile, 

Climb  up  to  look  and  pray 
For  a  glimpse  of  that  heavenly  country, 
That  seems  not  far  away." 

This  is  a  good  point  to  close  and  seal  up  the  Memories. 
For  the  rest,  a  few  words  may  be  sufficient.  Manifestly, 
as  a  family,  God  has  been  with  us  all  the  way,  and  the 
blessings  of  the  Lord  Jehovah  have  been  upon  us. 
Forty-two  years  ago  we  went  out  —  two  alone  —  into 
the  wilderness  of  prairie ;  and  now  we  have  become  one, 
two,  three,  four,  Jive,  six,  or  more  bands. 

Sabbath,  September  7,  wound  up  the  precious  weeks; 
and  Sabbath  evening  was  the  transfiguration  of  the 
whole.  May  its  blessed  memories  tenderly  abide  in 
all  our  hearts !  For  a  year  or  more,  we  had  looked  for 
ward  to  the  family  meeting  that  was  to  be ;  but  now  we 
look  back  and  remember  with  growing  pleasure  the  meet 
ing  that  was.  As  the  wagons  clattered  away  on  Monday 
morning,  they  broke  the  charmed  spell,  but  each  one 
went  his  own  way  richer  than  he  came. 

A.  L.  R. 


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